Furor grows over cops at Ridley BLM protests
RIDLEY TOWNSHIP » The Delaware County Black Caucus will hold a press conference at 1 p.m. in front of the township building on MacDade Boulevard today to discuss the events surrounding a Black Lives Matter protest and march that took place last Saturday.
“Tomorrow is a statement about what we believe in as a society, as a state and as a country, for those people with good intentions to shine a light of goodwill and humanity upon all people … and certainly to call out those who know their actions were racist,” said state Sen. Anthony Williams, D-8 of Philadelphia, who will be speaking at the event.
Williams was alluding to Interboro School Board member Christine Alonso, who has been accused of shouting racist invectives during the march. Alonso, the mother of four biracial children, has denied those accusations and resisted calls that she step down. Williams was joined in denouncing the actions of counter-protesters by Delaware County Council and state Rep. Leanne Krueger, D-161 of Swarthmore, both of whom issued statements expressing horror and sadness at the reception BLM protesters received, including being met with a Confederate flag at the Herbert W. Best VFW Post 928.
“In the state of Pennsylvania, there is no claim of ‘heritage’ where the Confederacy is concerned,” said the county council statement. “Regardless of the intent with which it was displayed, anyone marching to confront racism would reasonably interpret it as a symbol of white supremacy and racial intimidation.”
The BLM protest, organized by the grassroots organization Delco Resists, began at noon Saturday at the Frederick L. Mann Memorial Park. Marchers then went down Academy Avenue to Holmes Road before walking along MacDade Boulevard to the township police station.
The diverse group of BLM protesters, which included children and senior citizens, were met by a group at the VFW who shouted racially charged invectives, slurs and threats at the protesters, such as, “Black lives splatter,” and “Run them n—— over,” which was documented by video footage of the event.
Things escalated from there, as motorcyclists drove by the BLM group revving their engines and two pickup trucks stopped in front of marchers to belch black smoke in their faces. There were also reports of various motorcycle clubs in the area, including the Pagans.
By the time the protesters reached the police station, there was a fairly large crowd waiting for them. That group rushed to meet the Black Lives Matter protesters as they turned to head toward the station and a scuffle broke out before police separated the two sides.
It was the most confrontational BLM march the county has seen and its aftermath has raised several questions from organizers and Krueger. Chiefly: Where were the police prior to the confrontation at the station?
“They were not at the place where the rally occurred, they were not on MacDade Boulevard, they did not do any traffic control – they did not do any of the things that you normally associate with a municipal force when something like this occurs,” said state Sen. Tim Kearney, D-26 of Swarthmore, who attended the rally and march. “I’ve never experienced that before and I’ve done several of these rallies.”
“The Ridley Township Police Department handled this protest differently than every other police department in Delaware County, it appears,” said Krueger, who is seeking “an immediate and transparent investigation into the actions of law enforcement.”
“My office had been tracking this carefully for about two weeks prior, when we first learned about it,” said Krueger. “We saw the counter-protestors organizing on social media, we saw them encouraging people to come with weapons, and I reached out to Ridley Township Commissioner Bobby Willert about a week ahead of time to voice my concerns about public safety.”
Township Manager and former head of the County Criminal Investigation Division Joe Ryan said Thursday that any claims about police not being present were “entirely untrue.”
“We had officers from the beginning to the end,” he said. “We had a lot of plain clothes officers – they’re not to have a police presence where people could get agitated by the police, but there were a lot of plain-clothes officers all the way down MacDade Boulevard to the township building.”
Willert, the president of the Board of Commissioners, said he was aware of the counter-protest before Krueger’s call and that there were 23 officers on duty during the protest.
“Ten or 12 were undercover, or plain clothes, and they were all along the different routes,” he said. “I was in a car with a plainclothes car next to me right behind the…protest, just to make sure nobody got past, nobody hurt them. If we saw something on the side, I called ahead to Joe, or the captain, and the plain clothes guys were in the middle of any altercations and they broke them up.”
Delco Resists organizers Taylor Shiflett of Sharon Hill and Ashley Dolceamore of Glenolden said they had a contentious discussion about the event with township Director of Code Enforcement John Ward a few days prior and were told they would receive a call back.
“I left my phone number and never received a call,” said Shiflett. “They never followed up with us.”
Dolceamore said Ward told them the township was not aware of the BLM protest, but was aware of the counter-protest, which she said made no sense. Ward also reportedly said the township would need 45 days’ notice of an event, though Dolceamore disputed whether that was necessary for a protest.
Willert said organizers arrived after 4 p.m. the Wednesday before the march and provided few details on the route, refusing to cooperate with township officials. He also noted the township needed more notice if it was going to effectively police the event.
Regardless of the township’s code, Dolceamore said Ridley was at the very least notified that the march would be taking place and that a counter-protest had been organized.
“I said there are people on the counter-protest page happily touting the fact that it is gun friendly,” said Dolceamore. “Like they were advertising, ‘Bring your guns.’ I brought that up. You would think that would be a safety concern. They pretty much just looked at me.”
Willert said he had been made aware of guns being promoted by VFW protesters, but he told them to “squash that” and did not see any guns displayed. Willert also said he did not see trucks buffeting protesters with black smoke.
“I really don’t see how that’s possible,” said Williams. “Facebook showed the belching into the face of the public, Facebook showed two smaller, I think they were females, being surrounded by a group of intimidating people shouting out the n-word. Maybe he was on the wrong block, I don’t know, but to suggest that wasn’t obvious means you just really weren’t connected with that crowd, you were housed somewhere else. If you were doing undercover work, I guess that would be rated as an ‘F.’ If that was undercover for the president of the United States, he would be dead. If that was undercover work to protect any
body, that was a failure.”
Chuck Fitzgerald, president and founding member of Stars, Stripes, Bars & Pipes, told the Daily Times Saturday that the counterprotest was organized to support veterans and first responders, and to protect the VFW against vandalism.
But many of those in attendance for the BLM demonstration said they got the palpable feeling that the other group was only in attendance to harass, intimidate and provoke a confrontation.
“It was actually the first time ever – I’ve been involved in political things since the ‘80s, and I’ve never got that sort of sense that this could go really wrong as I did (Saturday), particularly when we were approaching the VFW hall along MacDade,” said Kearney. “Some of the stuff I heard, I couldn’t believe it …The worst language I heard was reserved for a young Black man marching with the American flag. They were incensed that he would have the effrontery to march with the American flag.”
Kearney said he agrees with Krueger that an investigation into the police presence that day is warranted.
“They didn’t even care to be there for of us. Any of us,” said Dolceamore. “Some of us were having to literally dodge cars and dodge these huge trucks and it was honestly atrocious. There was nobody in sight. Instead, these racist crazy people were able to drink out of red solo cups – they were drinking alcohol on the VFW lawn, they were clearly intoxicated on Ridley Township Police Department grounds. Isn’t that breaking the law?”
Willert denied there was open drinking on township property, saying a beer can was confiscated from one man.
Shiflett said when BLM protesters reached the police station, the other group already assembled there began shoving them. Police did not intervene until a larger confrontation began, she said.
“I did not even notice any police officers standing out front, either,” said Shiflett. “When we arrived and saw the counter-protesters, I did not see a police presence at all, and all the counter-protesters were just hanging out on the lawn.”
Willert also disputed that, saying police worked to get between the two groups and keep them separated.
“The people at the protest knew about the undercover (officers), because they made some comments about the undercover (officers), but they were there to protect, to help, not hurt them,” he said. “Having all those people and not one fist being thrown, or a fight breaking out, they did a very good job.”
One of the marchers, Stewart Holcomb, said that when he tried to report an assault in front of the police station, a police sergeant refused to take any information until Holcomb identified a BLM protester blocking traffic.
“To hear someone say that just made me sick to my stomach,” he said. “I know some people in law enforcement, so I know that’s generally not how it works.”
Willert disputed Holcomb’s account of trying to report an assault, saying he was brought “right back” by a detective to file his complaint.
Willert said people tend to post things on Facebook that are inaccurate, especially those who weren’t at the event. He added that there is blame to go around for any verbal confrontations on both sides.
“For the most part, both sides had peaceful people protest that were doing the right thing,” said Willert. “Both sides had a handful of people that I witnessed that were antagonizers that were a little bit out of line.”