KC police fire tear gas at protesters Sunday night, call Plaza assembly ‘unlawful’
Kansas City police fired tear gas into a crowd of hundreds of protesters demonstrating against police brutality Sunday night after officers reported that objects were thrown at them.
The protest had been going on at the Country Club Plaza since the early afternoon, for the third day, after protests Saturday night ended with tear gas, fires and broken windows.
Eleven minutes after Kansas City’s 8 p.m. curfew went into effect, the Kansas City Police Department encouraged everyone to go home, but it said officers would not take enforcement action unless “the peace is disrupted.”
Demonstrators protesting the police killings of black men, racism and other issues continued to chant as they had for hours.
Then police said water bottles had been thrown at officers. They told protesters: “This is an unlawful assembly.”
“Due to the items being thrown at officers, the protest has been declared an unlawful assembly,” the department tweeted. “Everyone must leave.”
People ran as the gas was deployed. Plumes of smoke could be seen overhead. Demonstrators poured milk into each other’s red eyes.
Some tear gas canisters appeared to have been thrown back toward officers, as they had been Saturday.
After the gas was deployed, a large group of protesters convened nearby on Main Street. Some sat on cars as they honked. Tear gas was then fired at that group as they approached police. They started running in the direction they came from.
Demonstrators banged on drums as those in the crowd shouted, “I can’t breathe.”
Some protesters moved barricades into Main Street between 44th and 45th streets. Someone then lit one on fire. Others nearby quickly put it out.
Reporters from KMBC-TV and 41 Action News reported people were throwing rocks at members of the media gathered on the balcony of the Community Christian Church along Main Street.
Before 10 p.m., a protester shot off some fireworks while another burned a flag. Also set on fire was a 41 Action News van on 46th Street. Its horn continued to sound as it became engulfed in flames.
The police department tweeted that a dumpster was also on fire at the Plaza.
At West 46th Street and Broadway Boulevard, a dozen protesters gathered across the street from police.
Police told them over a loudspeaker to disperse or they would deploy tear gas. It appeared similar standoffs were happening at other intersections around the Plaza.
A line of police officers later moved from north to south on Main Street. As police approached, panicked protesters ran up a hill.
About 10 minutes later, a loud bang could be heard nearby. Protesters started throwing objects at a QuikTrip convenience store. When they heard sirens, they ran east.
D. Rashaan Gilmore, a leader in the black LGBTQ community in Kansas City, attended the protests Saturday and followed events on Sunday.
He said he thought the 8 p.m. curfew imposed by the city provoked people.
“The mayor effectively – whether intentionally or not – threw down a gauntlet and the protesters picked it up and threw it back his way,” Gilmore said.
“I will add that yesterday’s protest was peaceful all the way up until the point the police decided to bring in some (extra officers). That had the effect of immediately intensifying an already tense situation. In every instance, it was the police ‘show a force’ that became the provocation not the actions of protesters.”
Earlier in the day, Mayor Quinton Lucas told reporters he was proud of the protesters who had remained peaceful.
After tear gas was deployed, Lucas about 10 a.m. said he was disappointed.
“I was here at 8 p.m. talking to everybody and it seemed like things were going well,” Lucas said.
The protest, however, took a “disappointing turn.” That was despite the city’s concessions to let protesters march in the street and give them more time to demonstrate, Lucas said.
“The crowd was bigger today,” Lucas said. “We had people in the thousands. And a lot of people, I think, came out, made their voices heard. A lot of them went home at 8 o’clock or before.”
Even after that, there were still protesters on the Plaza who were marching and chanting.
“Certainly, that is something that we welcome,” Lucas said.
What is not welcomed is projectiles being thrown, a Dumpster set ablaze, people trying to make Molotov cocktails, he said.
Freddie Dolphus, 30, protested Saturday and Sunday.
“This is something that has touched a nerve with everyone across the United States,” he said. “We are trying to be recognized as human beings . . . Which is the weirdest thing to protest for, but that’s what the protest is about.
“People are fed up with the system not working, with the system taking advantage of the people it’s supposed to protect and serve.”
This story was originally published May 31, 2020 at 8:41 PM.
