Black Lives Matter protesters gathered in midtown Saturday to protest police killings. The group marched through most of Midtown and continued to the Reno City Plaza and then back again.
While the past few weeks have showcased violent protesters with large numbers of police and protesters facing off nationally, the Reno march remained peaceful throughout and was around 50 people in number — though, this number fluctuated somewhat as the group gained and lost participants while marching.
There where a few antagonists that yelled at the marchers, including two teens on skateboards, one who wearing what seemed to be a MAGA hat, and a man yelled from a local restaurant. One unmasked individual circled the protesters at the City Plaza proselytizing that COVID-19 and the earth were fake.
While marchers and counter demonstrators may have exchanged a few words it never escalated beyond that.
Midtown visitors had mixed reactions to the march. Some honked or clapped in support, while others avoided eye contact. A few fled from the marchers seemingly in distress.
Ieves Perez, the event’s organizer, spoke briefly to the crowd and thanked them for passing by the march’s antagonists without incident.
Perez said, “We wanted to get out here and march for those who can’t come out and march for themselves, Daunte Wright and [Adam Toledo].”
Protesters were calling for an end to qualified immunity, which gives law enforcement officers protections even when they make mistakes, such as violating civil rights and killing innocent civilians.
Wright was killed by police in Minnesota. The cop said she thought she was firing her Taser but in fact shot him after pulling him over. Toledo, 13, was shot by police in Chicago after they said he was brandishing a firearm.
