Fireworks Aimed At St. Pete Police Station, 23 Arrests: Police

ST. PETERSBURG, FL — Tuesday's protests ended with St. Petersburg police arresting 23 people who refused to leave police headquarters shortly before midnight. After police set off smoke bombs to disperse the crowd, protesters set off fireworks toward the building in retaliation, a news release said.

There were at least three rounds of marches throughout the city Tuesday, according to Karsyn, a protester who did not want to be fully identified. At one point in the day, a large group laid out in the street blocking 34th Street near Central Avenue, and she told Patch that cars honked in support. She also said protesters blocked an entrance to Interstate 275 from the downtown area.

Other protesters did not want to speak to the media. Patch observed one of the downtown marches around 9:30 p.m. Tuesday, and over 100 people marched along Beach Drive with chants. (There is a video provided below of protesters on Beach Drive)

They eventually sat down in lanes of traffic on Beach as an African-American man stood shirtless and talked about keeping protests peaceful and not tearing up things as he'd seen other protesters arrested for doing in other cities.

Patrol cars followed behind the protesters during the march.

They picked up and turned onto 5th Avenue North and marched back toward police headquarters.

Protesters eventually crossed over to 1st Avenue North where the department is located. Once they got to the barriers — police had blocked off 1st Avenue North near 11th Street North — they didn't cross over the barriers but turned around 11th and went over to Central Avenue North, where they continued marching toward Interstate 275.

Patch heard multiple loud bangs around 11:15 p.m. as they continued down Central, and police said that those were fireworks set off by the protesters. Police received multiple phone calls from people who thought those were guns firing. St. Petersburg EMS was seen heading towards that direction. Police have not been able to confirm if anyone was hit with a firework; however, officials did say that a person on Twitter posted about a woman passing out on the sidewalk in that area who had not been involved in the protest.

Authorities said they were aware that protesters were setting off devices that had loud bangs but were uncertain exactly what these devices were at the time. However, they heard they were going to be used against officers.

As the majority of the protesters continued with their march, around 20 protesters sat outside the police station. The majority refused to talk the media. Patch did notice several people walking around with backpacks on, and one white man who had on a backpack also wore a helmet with a face shield.

Police said when a large crowd of protesters gathered back around the station shortly before midnight, officials were already aware of what the protesters planned to do with these devices, and their number-one concern was the safety of officers and the public. Police threw out smoke bombs to disperse the crowd, and in response some of those protesters set off what turned out to be fireworks toward the building.

Police arrested 23 people who refused to leave, and one of the people arrested had a backpack filled with large fireworks. The exact charges of these individuals have not been released yet nor have their identities.

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