POLICE TO CHARGE BLM ORGANIZERS

Black Lives Matter 757 event blocked traffic at intersection, was not sanctioned

Hampton police revealed plans to charge Black Lives Matter 757 leaders after protesters marched on Mercury Boulevard and blocked traffic while taking a knee at Coliseum Drive.

Hampton police said late Friday they plan to issue charges against Black Lives Matter 757 leaders after protesters marched on Mercury Boulevard and blocked traffic at a major city intersection.

Police have not yet said what charges they plan to file, or how many people they plan to level them against.

The demonstration began about 8 p.m. Friday in the parking lot of an old Kmart building on Mercury Boulevard. After a short rally, about 100 protesters marched west to the intersection of Mercury and Coliseum Drive, taking up some lanes of traffic along the way.

Once in the intersection, the group kneeled for eight minutes and 46 seconds in memory of George Floyd, a Black man who died in May after a Minneapolis police officer kneeled on his neck for the same length of time. The crowd then marched back to the parking lot, walking again in the traffic lanes.

The demonstration was not sanctioned or permitted, police said in a news release. Officers tried to contact organizers before the event, but were not successful, they said.

Once organizers arrived at the parking lot, police told them to keep the crowd on the sidewalk to ensure the safety of the participants and to minimize the impact on traffic. The organizers, however, failed to comply with their requests, police said.

Aubrey Japharii Jones, president of Black Lives Matter 757, said Saturday that he wanted to learn more about the potential charges, and talk with the group’s attorney, before offering any comment.