Black Lives Matter Supporters March In Downtown Fredericksburg

FREDERICKSBURG, VA — Supporters of the Black Lives Matter movement gathered in downtown Fredericksburg late Friday afternoon to speak out against police brutality and call for the city’s police department to be held accountable for the use of gas and arrests against people participating in demonstrations that followed the death of George Floyd in Minneapolis

The protest started in Hurkamp Park where organizers warned against provoking armed men who were standing across the street from the gathering, openly carrying rifles. The supporters of the Black Lives Matter movement marched several times around downtown, staying on sidewalks and shouting “Black Lives Matter, Blue Lives Murder” and other chants.

Jacob Blake’s name was added to the chants. A Kenosha, Wisconsin police officer shot Blake, 29, seven times in the back on Aug. 23 as Blake tried to enter the driver's side door of an SUV. His three children — 3, 5 and 8 — were in the car at the time. Blake was left paralyzed by the shooting.

Local pastors attended the protest to offer their support to the demonstrators and warn the group against any threat from armed militia groups or individuals. The demonstration ended without any violence, as the armed men in pickup trucks and police kept their distance from the protesters.

Among the concerns of the protesters was the city’s decision to hire Washington, D.C.-based Police Executive Research Forum, or PERF, to conduct a third-party review of police activities that took place in the city from May 31 to June 2. PEFF has close relationships with police departments across the country.

Some in Fredericksburg have called on the city to add Christy Lopez, a law professor at Georgetown University and a former top official in the Civil Rights Division of the U.S. Department of Justice, to the independent review of the city's police department.

PERF's review of the police department's actions is expected to take six to eight months.

In response to the protests against police brutality, Fredericksburg Police Chief Brian Layton announced earlier this summer that he would be expanding the police department’s Citizens Advisory Panel. The citizens panel was created in 2015 to facilitate two-way communication between the police department and the community.

The police department said it is committed to ensuring the panel is inclusive by including people from schools and universities; young adults between the ages of 18 and 30; the business community; racial, social, or economic justice organizations; the faith-based community; and the LGBTQ community.

According to one of the protest leaders, several Black Lives Matter movement supporters at Friday’s demonstration had applied for positions on the expanded advisory panel. But their applications had been rejected by the police department, she said.

In its own report released last month, the Fredericksburg Police Department explained that it had used CS smoke, OC spray and sting ball grenades to disperse crowds during the May 31-June 2 period when the protests against the death of George Floyd and for racial justice were beginning in the city.

Meanwhile, the city continues to appeal a judge's ruling that found the city's curfew that resulted in Fredericksburg police arresting dozens of people was unconstitutional. In late July, a Fredericksburg General District court judge made the ruling, which set aside about 50 misdemeanor curfew violation cases.

The judge agreed with defense attorneys who argued that only the state legislature or the governor could grant authority to a city to implement a curfew. At the time, Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam had authorized curfews in Richmond, Hampton and Virginia Beach, but not in Fredericksburg.

Fredericksburg City Manager Timothy Baroody issued the curfew on May 31 in response to protests against the death of George Floyd. Under the curfew, no person was authorized to be in public between the hours of 8:30 p.m. and 6 a.m. Baroody announced at the time that the police department's Citizens Advisory Panel supported the decision to implement the curfew.

On Thursday, city attorneys argued in Fredericksburg Circuit Court that the lower court erred in ruling that the city lacked the powers to issue a curfew on its own, according to the Free Lance-Star. The circuit court judge said he will issue a ruling in the case in a week or two.