Twenty people were arrested at a weekend protest near Hoover City Hall while demonstrating against the death of George Floyd in Minnesota, police said Sunday.
Most of Saturday’s arrests resulted in disorderly conduct charges after protesters blocked traffic on Montgomery Highway, Hoover police Lt. Keith Czeskleba told WBRC-TV. Other charges included criminal trespass and resisting arrest, and one person was charged with carrying a firearm during a demonstration.
No protesters or officers suffered injuries, police said.
Windows at a Jared Jewelry store on Galleria Circle and a Von Maur department store at the Riverchase Galleria were damaged during the protests, police said.
Protests have erupted around the country in the wake of Floyd’s death on May 25.
Derek Chauvin, the white police officer who worked for the Minneapolis Police Department, is charged with third-degree murder and second-degree manslaughter. Floyd died after Chauvin pressed his knee into his neck for several minutes, even after Floyd stopped moving and pleading for air.
In addition to marking Floyd’s death, protesters in Hoover told the television station they were there for Emantic “EJ” Fitzgerald Bradford Jr., who was killed on Thanksgiving night 2018 by an officer who was responding to a shooting at the Riverchase Galleria Mall. Police initially described him as the gunman in the shooting but later retracted that allegation.
Republished with the permission of the Associated Press.
