Police use pepper spray on protesters in Westport as march continues Friday night
As a protest against police brutality continued into the late-night hours Friday in Kansas City, police used pepper spray on some people who were marching through Westport.
As police deployed the chemical spray, protesters started coughing. Others sat down in the street.
One woman writhed in pain as milk was poured over her face to help overcome the reaction.
The action came after protesters left the Country Club Plaza, where they had been gathered for hours, and marched into surrounding areas as night fell.
Capt. David Jackson, a Kansas City police spokesman, stated late Friday that while some were marching, a window was broken in Westport. Jackson said the crowd then picked up a traffic barricade.
“It appeared they were going to use the barricade to cause more damage. A few deployments of pepper spray encouraged them to stop the behavior,” Jackson said in an email. “They dropped it and marched back to the plaza.”
Jackson said it was “unknown” if the spray hit anyone. A Star reporter who was in the area at the time observed protesters coughing and sitting on the ground after it was deployed.
Earlier in the day, hundreds of people had gathered by the J.C. Nichols Memorial Fountain to protest police brutality and the death of George Floyd, who died while in police custody in Minneapolis on Memorial Day.
Kansas City joined other major cities, including St. Louis, that held protests of their own earlier this week.
Protesters in Kansas City held signs sharing messages such as “Black Lives Matter,” “Stop the Violence,” “I can’t breathe” and “End police brutality.”
Many chanted “No lives matter until black lives matter” and “What’s his name? George Floyd,” while cars driving by honked in support.
About 75 police officers were at the planned protest, and officers remained there Friday night, Jackson said. He estimated that about 300 people showed up to the rally.
Earlier in the evening, police officers donned protective gear after receiving reports of guns being brought the rally and water bottles being thrown. Jackson said at that time no injuries and no arrests had been reported, and the protest remained largely peaceful.
About 10 p.m. protesters were marching along 47th Street and on Ward Parkway. Police who had earlier been stopping people from entering the street stood by as people walked in the road.
More than 30 officers lined the street at Ward Parkway and Central, allowing protesters to walk in the road.
At one point, a white pickup truck hit a person walking in the street. The person did not fall, but continued marching. At another location, people started banging on a truck until it accelerated and drove away.
As marchers entered Main Street near 46th, traffic began to get backed up.
At the Westport Ale House, 4128 Broadway Boulevard, someone broke out a window in the front of the building.
This story was originally published May 29, 2020 at 11:16 PM.