On 5th night, protest ends before Little Rock curfew

Breaking law not goal, organizers say

Protesters gather Thursday at the state Capitol for a short, peaceful demonstration. Ginny Heisler, an organizer, said that what she wanted people “to take away from today is that you can protest peacefully and that you can enact change with one heart and one mind.” More photos at arkansasonline.com/65protestlr/.
(Arkansas Democrat-Gazette/John Sykes Jr.)
Protesters gather Thursday at the state Capitol for a short, peaceful demonstration. Ginny Heisler, an organizer, said that what she wanted people “to take away from today is that you can protest peacefully and that you can enact change with one heart and one mind.” More photos at arkansasonline.com/65protestlr/. (Arkansas Democrat-Gazette/John Sykes Jr.)

The fifth-consecutive night of protesting at the state Capitol was a short one Thursday, as organizers asked the protesters to go home two hours before the 8 p.m. Little Rock curfew.

The message was unity and justice, and music was played as the participants, numbering about 200, chatted with one another and applauded the speakers. Then around 6 p.m., after the protesters took a moment to pray for peace and unity while holding lit candles, they were asked to leave.

Most protesters left and the crowd quickly shrank to 50 or 60, with the last of those trickling out before 9 p.m.

In the first four nights of protests, crowds stayed well into the night. Police and Arkansas State Police troopers used tear gas to break up the rallies the first three nights and, although Wednesday night's protest was peaceful, it did not break up until well after the city curfew.

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The protests were sparked by the death of George Floyd, a 46-year-old black man who died May 25 while in police custody in Minneapolis.

Organizer Shanelle Smith asked protesters several times Thursday to go home after the event had ended.

"This was a beautiful, peaceful protest and we want that to be what everyone sees," she told the crowd. "Don't let the media be able to twist this and have the headlines be about arrests."

Ginny Heisler, another protest organizer, told the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette that the group believes in changing the law, not breaking it.

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Smith agreed.

"I want people to take away from today is that you can protest peacefully and that you can enact change with one heart and one mind," she said.

While there were no reports of protest-related arrests Thursday, law enforcement officers made five arrests at Wednesday night's event, Arkansas State Police spokesman Bill Sadler said Thursday.

The people arrested were all from Central Arkansas, from cities including Little Rock, North Little Rock, Sherwood and Conway, according to information provided by Sadler.

The arrests were made as law enforcement officers patrolled mainly in the central downtown area east of the Capitol. All occurred between 9 and 11 p.m.

One person arrested was in a vehicle and charged with driving while intoxicated. The others were on foot. All five were charged with obstructing governmental operations, which is related to violating the curfew.

Agencies that have comprised the unified command that Gov. Asa Hutchinson put in place by executive order to crack down on protesters include the Arkansas State Police, the Little Rock Police Department, the North Little Rock Police Department, the Sherwood Police Department, the Pulaski County sheriff's office, Arkansas Highway Police, Arkansas Game and Fish Commission, the FBI and the Drug Enforcement Administration.

Officials said Thursday that there are 570 soldiers and airmen from the Arkansas National Guard on duty in response to the protest.

It's the first time the Arkansas Guard has been deployed for a Little Rock protest since 1968, following the death of 18-year-old Curtis Ingram at the Pulaski County Penal Farm.

Initially 100 members of the Guard were deployed Tuesday night. The governor called up nearly 500 more to be trained in "civil disturbance scenarios" to work in conjunction with the state police, the governor said in a statement Thursday. Those 500 have not been deployed.

Activation of the additional Guard members was initially reported by the Arkansas Times.

Those who have been called up are soldiers from the 216th Military Police Company; airmen from the 188th Security Forces Squadron; airmen from the 189th Security Forces Squadron; soldiers from the 39th Infantry Brigade Combat Team; and the 87th Troop Command, Mason said.

"Their duties include supporting the unified command under my emergency order," Hutchinson said in an emailed statement. "The assignments include prevention of looting and protection of public and private property from destruction."

Hutchinson issued the emergency order Tuesday that creates a "unified command" headed by the state police agency.

The Guard does not have tanks or armored vehicles, Mason said. The vehicles used for transportation -- trucks and Humvees -- are used regularly. The state police did request a Guard helicopter with 10 personnel Tuesday, according to a request-for-assistance form.

In response to questions about whether there are plans to increase or decrease the number of Guard members in the coming days, Mason said the Guard will respond to "requests for support" from the state police, at the order of the governor.

"I will continue to utilize the 100 members of the Arkansas National Guards I've activated to support the rule of law and protect property," Hutchinson said in a statement. "I'm satisfied with the number of guardsmen supporting the mission at this time and we are prepared to make adjustments as needed."

Except for a brief moment Thursday evening when Hutchinson passed by in a car and waved to the protesters only to be met by a mixture of expletives and a couple of cheers, the theme of the night was unity.

"If we don't learn to fight together then we will perish as fools," the Rev. Eric Crowder-Jones told the diverse crowd. "Let's not be fools in Arkansas."

Smith said the most impactful thing she has seen this week was people of all walks of life coming together for one purpose.

State Rep. Denise Jones Ennett, D-Little Rock, said she decided to attend Thursday's protest because she is the mother of three black children

"I am worried about their livelihood," she said.

Maiya Anderson said it was her first time at the protest, but her friend had encouraged her to attend and it was something she decided she couldn't miss.

"I am a history buff and I love reading and learning about history," she said. "I decided I might as well be a part of it."

Anderson said the sign she took to the event was a self-portrait with the names of women who have died because of police brutality alongside it.

"Drawing myself as a strong black woman, it brought me to tears, because I drew myself as I wanted to be," she said.

Omavi Shukur, one of the speakers, said that as a group, they must develop a strategy to bring about the change for which they were fighting.

"Otherwise we are acting without a solid base," he said. "It would be like leading with no direction."

Shukur said the strategy should include organizing the community and give them a platform to make change.

"The main point is to amplify their voices," he said.

State Sen. Linda Chesterfield, D-Little Rock, who spoke at the event, said that for change to happen, protesters must organize, register to vote, run for office and vote all the way down the ballot.

Demonstrators also met Thursday morning outside City Hall to protest police brutality, as they have all week.

Angela Harrison, 48, traveled to Little Rock from Atlanta to visit her mother but happened across about 20 people waving signs on the steps of City Hall and on the corner of Markham Street and Broadway while she was walking downtown and jumped in.

"Since I was here, I wanted to show support," she said. "It feels great to be amongst like-minded people, and it feels empowering."

Kipp Brown, a 50-year-old protester and Little Rock resident, said protests against injustice have occurred long before the past week, and that he appreciated the young people who were turning out to take part.

"This is the resurrection of the civil-rights movement," Brown said. "This isn't just about one black guy who got killed."

Leron McAdoo, 49, said he, too, is no stranger to protesting for racial justice, and compared Floyd's killing with the death of Emmett Till, a 14-year-old black boy who was lynched in Mississippi in 1955.

"It wasn't the first time. It wasn't the most gruesome. It was just a very visible happening," McAdoo said. "Mr. George is likened to that. The situation is not the first time. It's not the most gruesome. But for right now, it is the most visible."

McAdoo said he plans to run for Position 9, an at-large seat, on the Little Rock Board of Directors this year.

Valerie Bakhtiar, a 20-year-old from North Little Rock, said she was protesting for the officers involved in Floyd's death to be held accountable, as well as for the men who killed Ahmaud Arbery, a 25-year-old black man who was fatally shot while jogging outside Brunswick, Ga., in February, to face repercussions.

"I feel like George Floyd was the tip of the iceberg," she said.

Lesley, a 37-year-old protester who declined to give her last name, said she also was focused on police accountability.

"I think all in all it's accountability, consideration, respect of life," she said. "I think at the end of the day it's just human rights, equal, basic human rights."

She added that she was particularly affected by seeing police brutality on video because she has a 13-year-old daughter and a 16-year-old son.

"It's personal, and it doesn't have to happen to you as an individual," she said. "It's personal because it's my people."

Information for this article was contributed by William Sanders of the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette.

photo

A crowd of about 200 protesters gathers Thursday in front of the state Capitol in a rally that ended with a prayer for unity and justice. (Arkansas Democrat-Gazette/John Sykes Jr.)

Metro on 06/05/2020

CORRECTION: The last time the Arkansas National Guard was called to a protest in Little Rock was in 1968 following the death of 18-year-old Curtis Ingram at the Pulaski County Penal Farm. An earlier version of this story misidentified the last time the Guard was called in to a protest in the city.

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