3 local protests unfold peacefully
Hundreds of protesters marched from Bakery Square to the corner of South Negley and Centre avenues Saturday to protest the killing of George Floyd by Minneapolis police on May 25 and to support the Black Lives Matter movement.
The protest was one of three organized peaceful protests in the Pittsburgh area Saturday.
A crowd estimated at 400 people gathered outside the municipal building in Upper St. Clair, and a crowd of protesters marched down 5th Avenue in Coraopolis on Saturday morning.
Chanting “black lives matter,” the Bakery Square protesters moved down Centre Avenue.
As the protest moved through Shadyside, the marchers clapped to a rhythmic, beating drum and continued to chant, “Black lives,
they matter here.”
As the crowd reached Centre and Negley, they observed 8 minutes and 46 seconds of silence — the same amount of time that a white police officer knelt down on Floyd’s neck as he was restraining him. Floyd died when his heart stopped beating during the compression on his neck by the now-fired police officer, Derek Chauvin, who has been charged with second-degree murder in the case.
After observing the period of silence, the crowd shouted the name of Breonna Taylor, who would have turned 27 years old Saturday. Ms. Taylor was killed by police officers in Louisville, Ky., when they stormed her apartment under the authority of a search warrant. Ms. Taylor was shot eight times after her boyfriend and officers exchanged fire.
The crowd dispersed around 6 p.m.
Earlier Saturday, a demonstration in Upper St. Clair took place without incident when several hundred people gathered outside the municipal building to protest the killing of Floyd.
As part of the protest, that crowd knelt for 8 minutes and 46 seconds in silence. The event was organized mostly by black graduates of Upper St. Clair High School, and Upper St. Clair police were in attendance.
After the predominantly white crowd stood again, organizers, the chief of police and others spoke through a megaphone about the Black Lives Matter movement, Floyd’s and other high-profile deaths at the hands of police, and community solidarity.
There had been plans to stand in a street, but these were canceled due to the size of the crowd. At least one protester appeared to collapse from the heat of the sun, and volunteers passed out water bottles throughout the event.