March in Hartford draws 1K protesters
Killing of George Floyd fuels rallies across area
HARTFORD — Chanting “Black lives matter” and “no peace, no justice,” a huge crowd took to the streets of Hartford on Saturday afternoon in an expression of rage and grief over the spate of killings by police across the U.S.
Elle Morgan brought her young son, who clutched a sign that read “I’m 2 and I’m already fighting for my life.”
“We’re still fighting for civil rights,” Morgan said. “Just stop killing us.”
Like much of the crowd, Morgan heard about the rally just hours earlier, when a friend texted her a flyer.
Hartford police said there were no arrests in connection with the protest. Anti-racism rallies were also held Saturday in New London and Bridgeport, where marchers closed down a portion of Route 8. State police late Saturday night said two people were arrested for blocking the highway. They didn’t release names or charges.
In Hartford, the multiracial, mostly masked crowd gathered at noon in front of the carousel in Bushnell Park. Together the group marched to the Hartford Public Safety complex down the street. Some people held signs that read “Enough,” and “I can’t breathe,” echoing the words of George Floyd, who was killed five days ago by police officers in Minneapolis.
A video of Floyd pleading that he could not breathe while handcuffed with an officer kneeling on his neck sparked horror and
outrage and touched off a series of intense protests across the nation.
In Hartford, Jamila Champier, a teacher at a CREC school, said she felt compelled to add her voice to the communal cry for police accountability. Champier brought her son, Chase, 7, who held a sign saying, “Black lives matter; stop killing us.”
“People just want to be together and stay unified,” Champier said.
Howard Daniel said his father, a civil rights leader in Ohio, taught him that citizens have a duty to speak out against injustice.
“You know that saying, ‘If you see something, say something?’” said Daniels, pastor of the Upper Room Christian Center in Meriden. “Well, we’ve been seeing it, but we haven’t been saying anything. It’s time to speak out.”
The march was the second protest in the capital city in two days. On Friday night, several hundred people, including a number of prominent politicians, stood outside the Capitol to give speeches denouncing police brutality against people of color.
In contrast, Saturday’s rally included no major speeches and few, if any, politicians. Instead, it was an organic, almost spontaneous, gathering. Most participants learned about it just hours before, from texts or Facebook posts.
DeShawn Givens, 21, who lived in East Hartford, said he is “just a random person who is tired of injustice, so I came out here by myself with my long board.” Givens said he wanted to make sure his voice was heard “because at the end of the day, that’s the only thing we have: our voice and our brain.”
Ethan Sheehan, a 24year-old grocery store worker from Newington, helped spread the word about Saturday’s protest. “I went on Twitter looking for protests to join, and I found a bunch of people who were also looking for protests so I just said I’m going to Bushnell Park and I’m bringing signs,” he said. “Then someone made a flyer and the whole thing blew up.”
Lt. Paul Cicero, spokesman for the Hartford Police Department, estimated the crowd at 800 to 1,000 people, but some participants said it was closer to 2,000.
“It way more than I ever expected,” Sheehan said. “As soon as we started walking, I realized how big the crowd was.”
The crowd marched back from the public safety complex to the north steps of the Capitol. Then some participants returned to Bushnell Park while others walked to Hartford City Hall on Main Street.
Police dispatched members of the department’s emergency response team on the roof of the public safety complex. Cicero said there were no incidents. “Everybody was very peaceful, and we’re appreciative of that,” he said.
On the ground, officers provided assistance to deal with traffic control. “We escorted [the marchers] to the police department, and we escorted them back,” Cicero said.
Asked if he had any response to the protestors’ chants of “I can’t breathe” and other slogans, Cicero said: “We certainly support everyone’s First Amendment rights.”