'We Bleed The Same': Police Protests Spread To Triad

A series of protests, large and small, spread throughout the Triad Saturday as the nation continued to grapple with police violence against minorities.

In Greensboro, a group of about 200 people marched down Gate City Boulevard in the heat of the afternoon.

“The whole purpose of this peaceful demonstration is because the community of this city has just had enough of the injustice,” said Virginia Holmes. “Were done.”

Police closed several streets along the way as the marchers made their way.

Joshua Caudle, who led the marchers in chants, said of the protests across the country that there's no playbook for how to fight for freedom.

“We want the ability to breathe, we want the ability to walk, we want the ability to run, we want the ability to live,” he said. “We want people to know that we are human, we have skin and bones and we bleed the same. The only difference is God made our hue a little darker.”

Sara Jado, a student at North Carolina A&T University, says Greensboro showed the world how to peacefully protest during the 1960s. 

“I want justice,” she says. “Everyone out here, they want justice too.”  

Just after 8 p.m., Greensboro police sent out notices that Interstate 40 and some streets across the city were closed because of the protests. Later, this situation became tense — Greensboro police in riot gear used tear gas on the crowds, and there were reports of property damage and looting on South Elm Street.  

There were also scattered protests across the region, including at least two peaceful protests in Winston-Salem.

More than 1,000 people marched in downtown Raleigh on Saturday night, breaking windows as police in riot gear released tear gas and pepper spray to disperse the crowds.

WRAL-TV showed video of throngs of people in front of the Wake County Courthouse, some walking with signs, others on bikes and skateboards to protest the killing of George Floyd, a handcuffed black man who pleaded for air as a white Minneapolis police officer pressed his knee on his neck.

Protesters gathered in the late afternoon marching peacefully north from the courthouse chanting, “No Justice, No Peace.” But tension grew after nightfall as some people threw rocks at windows and spray-painted anti-police slogans on walls.

Fayetteville Street was the focus of most of the vandalism with multiple buildings along the street having windows broken out.

The demonstration came a day after protesters in Charlotte — in addition to other cities across the nation — broke into stores, kicked and stomped on police cars, and engaged in confrontations that led to multiple arrests.

News outlets report that protests in Charlotte on Friday evening began peacefully but turned violent as the night wore on. A grocery store and a cellphone store were looted, and protesters threw rocks at police, smashed a police bicycle, slashed the tires of a police car and stomped on other police vehicles.

Officers responded by deploying tear gas canisters. Police said Saturday that they arrested 16 people, mostly for failing to disperse. One person was charged with possession of a weapon of mass destruction.

Three officers suffered minor injuries: two of the three were treated and released from the hospital by Saturday afternoon, police said.

On Saturday, Charlotte Mayor Vi Lyles declared a state of emergency which she said will allow the city to obtain state resources to respond to protests if necessary. Lyles said she hoped not to do that.

“We want people to protest safely and we want people to be heard,” she said.

One of those arrested and charged with failure to disperse was City Council member Braxton Winston. He was released several hours later.

Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Chief Kerr Putney told WBTV in Charlotte that protests began peacefully and police were prepared to accommodate that, "and then it turned on us.”

“We have to have order, and we're going to,” Putney said. “You should be proud of your CMPD police officers. They showed restraint, but they took care of business.”

The protests in Charlotte were similar to those carried out across the nation in response to the death Monday of Floyd. Floyd's arrest was caught on camera and he could be heard saying “I can't breathe” while a white officer, Derek Chauvin, held his knee on Floyd's neck for nearly nine minutes. Chauvin was charged Friday with third-degree murder and second-degree manslaughter.