#slc protest

Let me get this straight.

You told the protesters that you agree with them and stand by their right to protest AN HOUR AND A HALF AFTER CALLING THE ARMY ON THEM?!

And then put them on time-out for a day and a half?

tonight there was a protest organized by PSL (Party for Socialism and Liberation) scheduled for 6 pm. Around 6 protesters began showing up with numbers somewhere around 200+. At 7 pm slc mayor Erin Mendenhall tweeted that there would be a city-wide curfew starting at 8 (phones of city residents were alerted of this at 8) it was unclear how else this news got out if at all. at around 7:45 it was resported that cops sealed off area behind protestors. Organizers of the protest told people to go home and not break curfew minutes before 8 pm. about half left at this time, with swat showing up. local public transit was shut down. many were scared to approach their vehicles for fear of being arrested. police began preparing for mass arrests around 9. at 9:30 it is reported that police began boxing remaining 100 or so protestors in, arresting anyone trying to flee. between 9:15 and 9:30 many were reporting arrests starting with police continuing to box protestors in. around 9:30 a leader of the protestors with a megaphone began negotiating with officers asking if they could be allowed to leave. after a short while at about 9:35 officers agreed and allowed them to disperse. as of 11:00 everyone except a few reamining individuals appears to be out safely.

by the officers own admission there were no “out of control” protestors, no looting or agression. (most of this information was from reports of police scanners)

even so there was military and police presence ALL DAY even before protesting began. they were prepared to get agressive, and it was protestors and organizers who deescalated every time. they were prepared to arrest everyone present at a peaceful (their words) protest. they didnt, which is good, but it took a lot to get there.

local news will report more agression than was present and/or a small insignificant turnout, neither is true. Stay safe everyone. (ps my times may be off from what actually happened, a minute or so later)

This is the response.

This is the response to people not being heard.

Now they're in time-out.

TW for gun violence and death

(This was the photo we took before the march. Ft "R," myself, and "K")

The rally at the start of the protest emphasized multiple times that this was to be a peaceful protest and to remain civil and calm throught the march.

As we were marching along, we noticed people were running back towards us. I, at first, assumed people had seen ICE and were running from them. (We had just ended a "No ICE" chant.) However people in the crows began yelling "active shooter" and "gunman" so my group took off and gathered along a building. As more people came running past, several others panicked and started pounding on the doors to the building to be let inside, yelling "There's and active shooter!" A receptionist came and unlocked the doors and for about 10 seconds it was a scramble and a bit of a danger to get inside. K was in first, I was close behind, but R was stuck like 5-7 people away from us. I grabbed his hand and pulled him in and the three of us ran into a hallway. R said he was most worried about being trampled to death than being shot, which was something I hadn't considered until after he mentioned it.

We stayed in the building, gathering information from other protesters and bystanders about what happened, and there was mixed information. Someone said that there was no shots fired, someone said it was a counter-protseter, someone said there were multiple people shot, someone said it was an officer.

After about 10 minutes of hiding in the building, the crowd began reforming back outside, but we decided that we needed to go home right then. We contacted others we knew attended and confirmed their safety and we set out for the train station. K entered a mindset of don't talk don't stop just move, and didn't look behind them or even slow down until we reached the train station. By then protest had been dismantled and police escorted us to safety and away from the crime scene.

The shooting happened at around 8, we got to the train station at about 8:25, and the train came at 8:40. And we got off at 9:40. R's family picked us up and took us to get dinner before driving us to our cars, which were about 20 minutes across the valley. Unfortunately in our haste to get away from the downtown area, we got onto the wrong train.

Surprisingly, the police responded quickly and kept the population safe.

There are currently 3 people in custody, the man with the AR-15, and two "peacekeepers" who were hired by Utah 50501. The main man didn't actually fire any shots, but ran into the crowd waving the AR-15 at everyone. The "peacekeeper" fired at him and fatally struck a protester.

The innocent man killed was a staple within his community and it is so sad he lost his life that day. It was a terrifying devastating outcome from an otherwise completely peaceful day of protests.