Police warn crowd to move or be pepper sprayed at Plaza protest in Kansas City
Update: About 7 p.m., a Kansas City police spokesman gave an update on the department’s response to the protest. That story is posted here.
As hundreds of people gathered by the J.C. Nichols Memorial Fountain to protest the death of George Floyd on Friday, a few water bottles were thrown and police warned protesters that they would be sprayed with pepper spray if they did not leave the street.
About two hours into the rally, near the Country Club Plaza in Kansas City, some protesters turned their attention to nearby police officers, telling them to go away. The rally then spilled into the street, where officers appeared to have pepper spray.
Protesters left the fountain, marched down 47th Street and went in a loop before returning to the fountain.
Police used a loudspeaker, calling for the crowd to ”please get on the sidewalk.” “If you do not get on the sidewalk, we will spray,” an officer was heard telling the crowd.
By 5:45 p.m., protesters mostly cleared the street. A line of officers stood on J.C. Nichols Parkway as police vehicles blocked the streets.
The intersection of J.C. Nicholas Parkway and 47th Street was fully blocked off by police as protesters continued to chant, “No justice, no peace.” Officers exited the streets after a while and moved their lines as people moved back onto the street.
Kansas City became one of the major cities on Friday to join in on the protests that have broken out across the country after a white police officer in Minneapolis was seen on video kneeling on the neck of Floyd, who died while in police custody.
The video, capturing moments leading up to Floyd’s death on Memorial Day, has prompted a national outrage, leading to protests this week in Minneapolis and St. Paul as well as other major cities including Los Angeles, Washington, D.C., Phoenix, Denver, Memphis, St. Louis and now Kansas City.
Around 3:30 p.m., at least 100 people gathered by the J.C. Nichols fountain at the County Club Plaza in Kansas City to protest police brutality and the deaths of Floyd and Eric Garner, a black man who died while in police custody in 2014 in New York City. They held signs sharing messages such as “Black Lives Matter,” “Stop the Violence” and “I can’t breathe.”
Protesters chanted “No lives matter until black lives matter” and “What’s his name? George Floyd,” while cars driving by honked in support.
Derek Chauvin, 44, the Minneapolis police officer seen on video kneeling on Floyd’s neck, was arrested on third-degree murder and second-degree manslaughter charges Friday. He is accused in court papers of ignoring another officer who was worried about the handcuffed black man who died after pleading that he could not breathe, according to the Associated Press.
Protests in Kansas City continued Friday evening as the more people showed up for the demonstration.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
This story was originally published May 29, 2020 at 6:02 PM.
