Hundreds of people gathered in Riverside’s Fairmount Park on Sunday, June 7 to hear speeches and march into downtown to protest the police custody death of George Floyd in Minneapolis.
The event was one of several held throughout Southern California Sunday – with hundreds at some, thousands at others – to demand justice and end racism after Floyd’s death.
“Here I am, at 60, fighting for the same thing my mama was when I was eight,” said one of those who marched in Riverside, Melinda Martin of Moreno Valley.
She said there has been important progress but, there’s much to change, and that voting is the key.
Martin led a chant of “vote, vote” at the beginning of the protest. She isn’t comfortable with the pace of change, but said she understands it: “Something that’s been around 400 years takes time to fix.”
A portion of the nine minutes of silent kneeling, with only helicopters heard. pic.twitter.com/G3yqq6zo0R
— Ryan Hagen (@rmhagen) June 7, 2020
The demonstration ended peacefully in the mid-afternoon, after protesters took a symbolic nine-minute knee in front of the Riverside Historic Courthouse. The vigil was so quiet that the loudest sound was helicopters overhead.
Then they returned to the park and dispersed, with some demonstrators cleaning up the streets as they went.
There were no arrests. “Very peaceful. No issues reported,” Riverside Police spokesman Officer Ryan Railsback said.
At Fairmount Park, before, the march, the crowd listened to speakers.
“This is why when there’s a murder in Minneapolis, there’s an uprising in San Bernardino, because … it’s happening in San Bernardino, Riverside, Moreno Valley,” Adolfo Aguila of Black Lives Matter IE told the crowd.
“This is why when there’s a murder in Minneapolis, there’s an uprising in San Bernardino, because … it’s happening in San Bernardino, Riverside, Moreno Valley,” says Adolfo Aguila of Black Lives Matter IE. pic.twitter.com/P1kX03mYK6
— Ryan Hagen (@rmhagen) June 7, 2020
The event included live music.
The crowd began marching from the park to the Historic Courthouse on Main Street in Riverside about 1:30 p.m., chanting “Black Lives Matter,” “Hey hey, hey hey, hey ho, police brutality has got to go” and “I can’t breathe” as they marched.
At the courthouse they chanted, “No justice, no peace! No racist police!”
Riverside police and Sheriff’s Deputies have a perimeter around the courthouse and guarding other government buildings as protesters gather in front of the historic downtown courthouse. pic.twitter.com/xj9Tua5ZZY
— Ryan Hagen (@rmhagen) June 7, 2020
Law enforcement presence was more visible downtown than at the park. Streets in the area were closed to traffic during the demonstration, Railsback said. Riverside police and Riverside County sheriff’s deputies formed a perimeter around the courthouse and guarded other government buildings. All officers and deputies were helmeted and some carried batons.
“I don’t see no riot here,” protesters chanted. “Take off your riot gear!”
Most of those who spoke to the crowd at Fairmount Park did not give their name. The names that got focus Sunday were George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, Ahmaud Arbery.
Almost all of the protesters wore masks, but almost all were within 6 feet of another group.
Nanice Ahmed, 48, of Riverside, said she takes coronavirus very seriously, but she needed to take a stand against racism. “Today’s rally should be a representation of putting that love and support into action and to continue supporting black voices,” Ahmed said.
Ahmed said she’s faced discrimination as someone who’s Middle Eastern, which she doesn’t want to compare to what black people face. “I do think we can build on each other’s causes,” she added, saying she attended on Sunday mostly to amplify black voices.
A handful of Riverside police on motorcycle circled the park during and before the protest, but no officers were visible near the stage where speakers began addressing the crowd shortly after 12 p.m.
Floyd, a 46-year-old black man, died on Memorial Day in Minneapolis when former Officer Derek Chauvin put a knee to Floyd’s throat for nearly nine minutes, an act caught on video. Floyd had been accused of passing a counterfeit $20 bill.
Chauvin has been charged with second-degree murder. Three other officers at the scene were charged with aiding and abetting second-degree murder and second-degree manslaughter.
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Hundreds at Riverside’s Fairmount Park hear speeches and march in protest of George Floyd death - Redlands Daily Facts
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