Over the weekend, a ‘Black Lives Matter’ protest was held in Baton Rouge, Louisiana – the town in which Alton Sterling was recently killed by local police.
The protest – which was, judging by mainstream reports and coverage, peaceful – ended in over 100 protestors and journalists being arrested.
One of the arrests included Deray McKesson, a leader of the Black Lives Matter movement.
He was arrested on charges of disrupting traffic; Simple Obstruction of a Highway of Commerce after entering the roadway after “verbal order[s] to exit the lanes of travel”.
He was allegedly ‘tackled’ by police, which shattered his phone, and multiple witnesses say Deray was not disrupting traffic, he was following police orders.
His Campaign Zero co-founder Brittany Packnett gave a statement to The Advocate, saying,
“Police directions were to stay on the shoulder as we walked back toward BRPD along Airline Highway.An officer approached him saying, “you with the loud shoes-if you step back into the street you’ll be arrested.”Deray remained with other protestors in our group on the shoulder, not crossing the line into the street-a fact proven by several periscope videos, including his.Just a few moments later, multiple police crossed onto the shoulder, tackling Deray and arresting him.He was not in the street, just as several other protestors who witnesses identified as being arrested on the grass when snatched and grabbed by Baton Rouge PD.”
McKesson was released from custody Sunday afternoon on bond. His charges have not been dropped.
In a statement, he said that he believes that it was an unlawful arrest. He told the Washington Post,
“The protesters were peaceful last night, the police were not.I was in compliance with the law, and I am confident that this was an unlawful arrest.”
Plenty of celebrities have expressed their support for Deray overnight. Even Edward Snowden tweeted about the leader’s arrest:
One of these men is under arrest. Which seems more at peace with his choices? #RightToMarch pic.twitter.com/1Ch1wH79yY
— Edward Snowden (@Snowden) July 10, 2016
Source: Washington Post.
