‘A long, tough week’: 24 arrested as Breonna Taylor protests again take over Louisville streets; curfew extended through weekend

At least 24 people have been arrested in Louisville, Kentucky during the second night of protests over a grand jury’s decision not to indict police officers on criminal charges directly related to the death of Breonna Taylor. (Sept. 25) AP Domestic

LOUISVILLE, Ky. —  Mayor Greg Fischer extended the citywide curfew through the weekend in anticipation of more protests as demonstrators took to the streets again Thursday night leading to the arrest of at least 24 people.

A day after a grand jury’s decision in the deadly police shooting of Breonna Taylor sparked a new wave of national protests for racial equality and police reform, two dozen people were arrested on charges including unlawful assembly, failure to disperse and riot in the first degree as of 1 a.m. Friday, police said.

Authorities alleged the protesters broke windows at a restaurant, damaged city buses, tried to set a fire and threw a flare into the street. The night of demonstrations also included a standoff between protesters and police at a church and the arrest of a high-profile state legislator.

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Tamika Palmer made a brief appearance at her daughter’s memorial in Jefferson Square Park as hundreds marched through downtown Louisville chanting Taylor’s name. Taylor’s family planned to speak Friday in the park that’s become known as Injustice Square.

By 10 p.m. EDT, an hour after Fischer’s curfew, Louisville police could be seen arresting protesters near the First Unitarian Church, which had offered its property as a refuge for protesters.

State Rep. Attica Scott, the Democratic lawmaker sponsoring a bill to end no-knock warrants like the one used when Taylor was shot and killed in March, was among the arrests, said Tracy Dotson, a spokesman for the union representing Metro Correction officers. 

A woman shouts to police on Thursday night during protests following the decision not to charge three officers for murder of Breonna Taylor.

 (Photo: John Minchillo, AP)

Scott has been charged with first-degree rioting — a felony — along with failure to disperse and unlawful assembly, both misdemeanors, Dotson said. 

The protest reached a negotiated end around 11 p.m., with both the remaining demonstrators and police in riot gear leaving the church area.

The Black Lives Matter protesters at one point confronted about a dozen armed counter-protesters, with one man dressed in a camouflage helmet and a green vest telling reporters he was a member of the “Oath Keepers” and had come to Louisville from North Carolina.

Many of the counter-protesters wore military-style garb and carried long guns. One man told reporters that the group was there to protect the property of local businesses.

While some marchers confronted the counter-protesters, others urged them to keep their distance.

The Oath Keepers describe themselves as “a nonpartisan association of current and formerly serving military, police and first responders” whose goal is to “defend the Constitution,” according to their website. The Southern Poverty Law Center describes them as “one of the largest radical anti-government groups in the U.S.”

An armed counter-protester talks with Black Lives Matter demonstrators on Thursday in Louisville, Ky.

 (Photo: John Minchillo, AP)

Unlike the previous night, when protests broke out in cities across the U.S., Thursday night presented only a few demonstrations.

A vigil for Taylor and Dion Johnson, a Black man who was fatally shot by an Arizona state trooper on Memorial Day, brought together at least 120 people in downtown Phoenix. 

“It’s been a long, tough week,” said Itoro Elijah of  the W.E. Rising Project, a local group against police violence and systemic racism that organized the vigil. “There’s always the hope that we will be heard.”

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The somber vigil morphed into a somewhat rowdy protest later in the night, with about 100 people marching in the streets, some carrying a banner that said, “Abolish the police for Dion and Breonna” and others pulling down barricades outside the Phoenix Police Department. The protest ended by 11 p.m.

A group of about 250 protesters marched in Rochester, New York, organized by a group called Free the People Roc. They called for public accountability and later sat quietly in the street outside the city’s Public Safety Building.

“I’m tired already. I could not imagine marching for 194 days and then getting slapped in the face,” said organizer Ashley Gantt. “That’s what that was (for Taylor).”

An organized march through the streets of Hollywood came to an abrupt end when a truck drove through the group of protesters, striking at least one person, the Los Angeles Times reported.

Protesters gathered after a grand jury’s decision not to indict police officers on charges directly related to Breonna Taylor’s death. USA TODAY

Breonna Taylor protesters urged nonviolence. Then 2 Louisville police officers were shot

Protests were largely peaceful on Wednesday night, just hours after the indictment ruling rippled across the country — but not without violence or strife.

The shooting of two Louisville police officers further inflamed tensions in Taylor’s home city. The suspect, 26-year-old Larynzo Johnson, is set to be arraigned Friday morning.

Portland police declared a riot in Oregon’s most populous city and made 13 arrests after some protesters threw Molotov cocktails at officers. Police in Atlanta and Seattle also reported multiple arrests after using chemical agents including tear gas and pepper spray to disperse protesters.

Hundreds gathered in other major cities across the country, including Chicago, Milwaukee, New York and Washington, D.C., marching through streets and chanting for justice and police reform.

Contributing: Olivia Krauth, The Courier-Journal (Louisville, Ky.); Cynthia Benjamin and Sean Lahman, Rochester (N.Y.) Democrat and Chronicle; Madeline Ackley and Kaila White, The Arizona Republic; The Associated Press.

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