Weekend protests ramp up around the state as thousands march and rally against racial injustice.
In Hartford and Manchester, protesters decry systemic racism, voice outrage as movement for action marches on
Peaceful protesters gathered Saturday in Hartford and Manchester to decry racism and police brutality, adding their voices to the continued outpouring of national anger over the death of George Floyd while in the custody of Minneapolis police. State Treasurer Shawn T. Wooden, who grew up in Hartford’s North End but attended Manchester public schools, spoke at a demonstration of hundreds near the Manchester Police Department. He wore a shirt commemorating Emmett Till, a 14-year-old black youth lynched in Mississippi in 1955.
“As a black man in America, I’ve been fighting for a long time,” Wooden said, his voice breaking. “We cannot let this just be a moment, but a movement. This cannot just be something we do hashtags about, that we put press releases out about, that politicians like me stand up on stage and express our outrage and pain about. We have to turn this pain and outrage into purpose and opportunity.”
He urged the crowd to commit to ending police brutality, dismantling systematic racism and spreading equal economic and educational opportunities.
“My heart aches, but I also see hope,” he said.
In Hartford, a crowd of at least 1,000 demonstrators marched from Pope Park to the Capitol, chanting support for Black Lives Matter, the international movement against racism and violence toward people of color.
Across the state, protesters who called out Floyd’s name also chanted the name of Breonna Taylor, a black medical worker killed by police in her apartment in Louisville, Ky., and displayed photos of Ahmaud Arbery, a black man who was fatally shot in February while jogging in Brunswick, Ga. Two white men, a father and son, have been charged with murdering Arbery.
Unlike protests in other parts of the country, gatherings in Connecticut have been peaceful, though dozens were arrested in Waterbury last weekend after they congregated in city streets, blocking traffic, and refused to disperse. Marchers in recent protests have also blocked highways, including I-84 and I-95.
Marcus Gillespie, a Hartford resident, said he joined the city protest to show his support for the national effort that organized marches, rallies and other protests following Floyd’s death May 25. Gillespie, 25, recently graduated from Georgia Gwinnett College in Lawrenceville,