Thousands Protest In Riverside County 1 Week After Floyd Death

RIVERSIDE COUNTY, CA — More than 4,000 people converged on downtown Riverside Monday to protest police brutality and march in remembrance of a man killed while being arrested last week by a Minneapolis policeman, raising chants and taking over city blocks in a demonstration that turned confrontational, culminating in arrests.

At least a half-dozen people were taken into custody at the end of the protest, which involved Riverside County sheriff's deputies firing anti-personnel rounds, possibly rubber bullets, to disperse the crowd at Orange and 10th streets about 7 p.m. A countywide curfew began at 6 p.m.

According to reports from the scene, the demonstration was largely peaceful until that time.

Deputies and police officers formed defensive perimeters at 10th and Lemon streets, as well as Orange and 10th streets, gradually advancing to the east and north to clear demonstrators from the area. Dozens of activists fled the location ahead of the advancing riot squad members.

California Highway Patrol officers were summoned to assist, and seven patrol units fanned out in the area of Lemon and University Avenue about 7:45 p.m.

Sheriff's officials said that by 8:15 p.m., most of the demonstrators had vacated the downtown space.

A trash bin fire near the historic Mission Inn Hotel & Spa and several broken windows along Orange were reported but no other vandalism or break-ins.

Riverside police helicopter Star Nine was in a constant hover over the area from 4 p.m. to 8:30 p.m., and law enforcement agencies additionally sent up camera-equipped drones to monitor developments.

The demonstration got underway just before 4 p.m. at the closed Main Library, across from the Mission Inn at Orange Street and Mission Inn Avenue. Black Lives Matter and the Brown Berets were among the organizers.

As a large crowd massed around the library's front entrance, throngs of people gravitated to the location, building up numbers as different speakers led the demonstrators in chants that included "Black lives matter; blue lives murder" "No justice, no peace," and "I can't breathe."

Like similar demonstrations that burgeoned in cities across the nation last week, the one in Riverside was predicated on the death of 46-year-old George Floyd, a black man who died during what Minneapolis police say was an act of resisting arrest. Officers Thomas Lane, Tou Thao and Derek Chauvin have been dismissed because of the death and what has been alleged by Hennepin County authorities as excessive force and a deliberate act of violence. Chauvin is under arrest, facing murder and manslaughter charges.

The Riverside protest was replete with derogatory outcries, with some participants repeatedly shouting "(expletive) the police," but at no time in the first 2 1/2 hours of the outing did there appear to be acts of aggression, physical violence or intimidation, as has been witnessed in Los Angeles, Dallas, New York City and other locations.

As a precaution, the windows on most of the businesses in the immediate vicinity of the protest zone were boarded up.

At the Main Library site, protesters spilled into the streets by 4:20 p.m., and with a crowd of supportive motorists honking and slowing, the marchers formed a loose train that initially went north on Mission Inn, then east on Market Street, south on Fifth Street and back west on Orange, where the demonstrators re-assembled before continuing along Orange toward the Riverside Historic Courthouse and Robert Presley Detention Center, three blocks to the west.

At the intersection of Orange and 10th streets, sheriff's deputies and Riverside police officers clad in riot gear deployed in a skirmish line backed by mobile barriers and tactical vehicles. Sheriff Chad Bianco arrived within a few minutes to supervise, as the protesters massed at the intersection, in front of the closed District Attorney's Office headquarters, about 4:50 p.m.

The chanting resumed, while participants waving signs that read "Justice for George," "Get off my neck," and "Abolish all prisons" paced in front of the riot squad. Only a few attendees turned belligerent, hurling profanities and shaking their fists at the law enforcement officers. Several organizers called on the aggressors to back off, and tensions were defused.

On several occasions, the protesters were asked to kneel on the street, apparently in honor of Floyd and others who died in police custody.

A counter-demonstration of sorts took place overhead, as a single-engine airplane towing a banner circled the protesters in three-minute intervals. The banner read: "We Love the police. USA thanks you." A red heart symbol was at the tail end of the message.

Several hundred protesters also ventured into the middle of a street near Palm Desert City Hall Monday evening, where they held a brief moment of silence while taking a knee in response to the death of George Floyd.

The crowd, which grew to about 500 at its peak, remained peaceful as of 5:30 p.m.

But as the start of the countywide curfew issued to guard against civil unrest began at 6 p.m., the crowd did not immediately subside, despite a request by organizers over social media as the start of the curfew approached.

"Please head home. Do not invoke violence," reads an Instagram post from an account called coachellavalleyactivists.

Protest slogans including "I can't breathe," "Black lives matter," and "Hands up, don't shoot" were cycled through by the protesters throughout the afternoon.

Handwritten signs broadcasted messages including "Enough is enough," "Silence is betrayal" and "Amerikkka was never great."

Riverside County officials announced earlier on Monday that a countywide curfew would be in effect from 6 p.m. Monday through 6 a.m. Tuesday for everyone but essential workers in response to weekend protests throughout Southern California that morphed into instances of rioting and looting.

Despite sheriff's deputies remaining near the protesters location in Palm Desert as of 6:30 p.m., it was not immediately clear how deputies would enforce the curfew as the evening approached.

The curfew forced organizers of the Palm Desert protest to start an hour earlier than originally planned. Organizers of a separate vigil set for Monday evening at an Indio park were forced to postpone their event. No future date was released.

The protest was originally set to take place at Palm Desert's upscale El Paseo shopping district.

That gathering was relocated by organizers closer to Palm Desert City Hall, but demonstrators eventually left a nearby park before taking to Fred Warring Drive where they headed toward El Paseo.

Even before the location change of the demonstration, many business owners along El Paseo weren't taking any chances. Mindful of destruction waged in other shopping districts in Southern California, they installed protective plywood barriers over their shop windows.

In Palm Springs earlier on Monday, upward of 50 demonstrators gathered on a downtown street corner.

The demonstration was organized by the Coachella Valley arm of the advocacy group Courageous Resistance. No problems were reported.

"If you see injustice, you need to do something about it," an organizer who did not give his name told KESQ.

"If you are silent in the face of injustice, you become part of that injustice yourself," he said.

Palm Springs police were on hand keeping an eye on the demonstrators, with some officers handing out free water bottles to participants as the temperature hit the mid-90s, while others watched the scene from a nearby rooftop.

Floyd died last Monday after being handcuffed and pinned to the ground by a white Minneapolis Police Department officer, Derek Chauvin, who pressed his knee on the 46-year-old man's neck for several minutes while three other officers looked on.

Video footage of the arrest, in which Floyd is heard saying "I can't breathe," spread widely online, and all four officers were fired.

Chauvin was charged with third-degree murder and second-degree manslaughter on Friday.

Earlier Monday, several hundred peaceful protesters also gathered with Corona Mayor Jim Steiner and Police Chief George Johnstone at Santana Park in Corona.

—City News Service

This article originally appeared on the Banning-Beaumont Patch