Breonna Taylor affair: in Louisville, second night of protests despite curfew
A second night of protests took place in the streets of Louisville, Kentucky, on September 24, 2020, to denounce the lack of legal action against the police officers implicated in the death of Breonna Taylor.
AP Photo / John Minchillo
Text by: RFI Follow
9 min
After the arrest of 127 people following the incidents between demonstrators and police in Louisville, this Wednesday, September 23, the city had this Thursday appearance of a ghost town while some neighborhoods remained difficult to access, under the control of the forces of order.
In the evening, a hundred demonstrators gathered in the city center despite the extension until the weekend of a curfew.
They continue to denounce the lack of legal action against the police officers implicated in the death of Breonna Taylor.
The demonstrators were able to escape the police by taking refuge in a church.
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A second night of protests took place in Louisville after the announcement by the American justice system not
to indict the police officers involved
in the death of Breonna Taylor.
This 26-year-old young woman died on March 13, when three agents broke into her home by breaking down the door of her home in the middle of the night.
Armed, the victim's companion, believing in a criminal intrusion, opened fire.
Only one member of the police trio was ultimately prosecuted, for endangering the lives of others, because of his shots which crossed the apartment of Breonna Taylor's neighbors.
No charge has been brought against her two colleagues, yet the perpetrators of the shootings that killed the African-American.
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To read: Breonna Taylor case: state of emergency declared in Louisville in Kentucky
Apparent contrast with the rally the day before during which two police officers were shot and wounded, Thursday evening the hard core of the protest, this time peaceful, rushed, once the curfew fell, to the First Unitarian Church.
The church building in the Kentucky town immediately opened its doors to anti-racist protesters, whose officials said they supported the cause.
In the parking lot of the church, groups equipped with walkie-talkies immediately get busy unloading boxes of provisions of all kinds.
A few steps higher, those concerned by the police during the recent gatherings are offered legal assistance.
In the midst of this impromptu setting, one of the leaders of the protest even dares to draw a parallel with the civil rights movement of the 1960s, which had been fueled by many pastoral figures, including Martin Luther King.
Protesters trapped inside the church
In the garden that surrounds the stone building with large glass walls, rumors are rife and demonstrators plague.
They would have preferred to shout their anger in Jefferson Square, where they have been gathering for months to demand justice for the young hospital worker killed at her home by the police.
"
We found ourselves trapped here,
" Grace Pennix, a 19-year-old black woman, told AFP.
Around, the square is crisscrossed by rows of police officers, whose helicopters fly over the area.
A few demonstrators are seated next to them, handcuffed.
The situation seems to exacerbate the already installed mistrust of the protesters towards the police, which they say they too often suffer from racism.
At the First Unitarian Church, Brother Tim, a 63-year-old cleric with a black beret on his head, said he was "
ashamed
" to witness police violence against African Americans.
The cleric says he was arrested 20 years ago during similar protests denouncing the death of James Taylor, a man shot dead by police while handcuffed in his own apartment.
“
Here we are 20 years later having to do the same thing,” he
sighs.
It is so frustrating.
"
With just a minute to curfew, the protesters made it to a church sanctuary downtown, where there is supposed to be an exemption for them to stay out later #Louisville #LouisvilleProtests #BreonnaTaylor pic.twitter.com/IcRXB5k883
Brendan Gutenschwager (@BGOnTheScene) September 25, 2020
Black Lives Matter, a peaceful movement
The violence that has taken place in this small town in Kentucky should not obscure the pacifism of
the Black Lives Matter movement
.
“
In the great tradition of Martin Luther King's civil rights movement, the bulk of the protests have been peaceful and non-violent.
In spite of the absolutely appalling court ruling, there was only one overflow in Louisville,
”underlines Tristan Cabarello, lecturer in American civilization at Johns Hopkins University in Washington and specialist in Afro-history. American.
"
In a country where guns are almost self-service,"
he continues, "
there will always be two or three marginalized in the demonstrations who can mobilize violently against the police.
What is important to stress here is that the protests were truly peaceful and that the violence in June and July was more on the side of the police than it was on the side of the protesters
.
"
For the lecturer, all this scrambles the message.
But "
that does not mean that in the long term, this movement will not have completely positive consequences, institutionally, for American society
".
Trump has everything to gain, by placing the presidential election debate on the subject of security and the theme of racial tensions.
This is what his electorate desires and in addition it allows him to put on the habit of law and order.
Tristan Cabarello senior lecturer in American civilization at Johns Hopkins University in Washington and specialist in African-American history
Anne Corpet
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To listen: United States: "The racial question creates a divide in the democratic camp"
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