The National Guard rolled through Chattanooga’s streets as protests occurred for the second straight day. As is the case in many cities across the United States, people are protesting the slaying of George Floyd in Minneapolis, who was pinned to the ground by police officer Derek Chauvin for over eight minutes.
After an entirely-peaceful gathering at the back of the old courthouse at 1:30, there was a break in the action until 6:00, when protesters once again gathered at Coolidge Park.
“Being black should not be a crime,” said one of the activists, while another said, “It’s not brutality, it’s murder.” Another said, “This is a lynching in broad daylight.”
There were several chants exclaimed by the crowd, including “(expletive) 12” and “No Justice No Peace.” When asked when there would be peace, one speaker said, “All of them deserve life (in prison).” Officer Chauvin has been charged with third-degree murder, which carries a maximum sentence of 25 years in Minnesota.
When Marie Mott had the microphone, she implored Chattanoogans to force change by voting and filling out the census. One speaker asked a question that resonated with the very diverse crowd.
“The man said ‘I can’t breathe,’ what more do you want,” asked one woman when she had the microphone.
One common theme among the protesters was their desire to reform policing in America, which includes heightened accountability for officers who may have committed a wrongdoing. Multiple speakers spoke about how they have been stereotyped by law enforcement because of their race.
“The laws weren’t written for people with our skin color,” said one protester. “And you wonder why I’m angry?”
Following over an hour at Coolidge, the group of around 400 people crossed the walking bridge and made their way to the old Courthouse. Many stood on the front steps, and one activist began several more of the same chants from before, which also included “Hands up, don’t shoot” and “I can’t breathe.”
After this, protesters meandered toward the back of the building, where a few tore down some sort of banner strung between the two lamp posts on the upper part of the stairs. After this, law enforcement arrested the instigators of this act.
While this arrest was happening and people were still present on the stairs, someone threw fireworks into the general area. This prompted Hamilton County sheriff deputies to fire tear gas at the protesters, which cleared the balcony.
The two sides followed this up by creating essentially two lines, with law enforcement on one side, and protesters on the other. Protesters continued to chant various things at the officers. However, there did not appear to be any physical altercations after the tear gas situation.
From there, the protesters moved down Market Street and across the bridge back into the Coolidge Park and Northshore area. At this point, law enforcement personnel blocked off different parts of the street along Frazier Avenue.
The National Guard then came in, and with the assistance of other law enforcement, they began to push protesters back and into Coolidge Park from Frazier. However, this was a lengthy and drawn-out process.
Before and during this de-escalation, a few arrests were made and there were several rowdy protesters who appeared to try to provoke the guard into some sort of altercation. Multiple protesters seemed to be unsettled when it became widespread knowledge that there was also armed law enforcement on the roof of one of the taller buildings.
However, for the most part, both sides stayed relatively calm, even as unknown parties occasionally threw fireworks into the crowds of people or at law enforcement. Protesters did continue to yell at the National Guard and law enforcement as the protesters were being pushed back into Coolidge.
One man was stuck at the protest for hours because the way to his house was completely blocked by police cars. Others stayed for most of the protest, but numbers began to dwindle as space became cramped on the street because of encroaching law enforcement.
By 1 a.m., the protest was mostly done, aside from a small pocket of people still congregating close to the Walgreens. In all, the only property damage appeared to be to the lamppost at the old courthouse.