the sun is starting to go down here in richmond. yesterday it was decreed that the area around the robert e lee statue is “closed” from sunset to sunrise. word is the state police are gearing up not far from here.

folks have been hanging out here in what is now called marcus david peters circle for hours. playing basketball, doing photoshoots, handing out free food and water, and just enjoying community space. people aren’t leaving.

the mood is good! https://twitter.com/goadgatsby/status/1275584651755692038?s=21

“today we are fighting a state ordinance,” says an organizer, telling people to consider their willingness to disobey the order.

following a chant of no justice, no peace, an organizer says: “y’all know what ‘no justice’ means - the work is not just done here. make sure you’re out there voting. make sure you’re putting pressure on your elected officials every chance you get.”

this truly has become a community space. people are changing the trash bags in the trash cans that have been put in place. folks are passing out free supplies & snacks, tending to memorials for those we’ve lost. it’s a beautiful space.

the crowd here is just vibin’ in the marcus-david peters circle. no cops yet. chants of “don’t start no shit, there won’t be no shit,” - it’s true, if the cops don’t come start a riot, it’ll just be a nice night of people enjoying a public space.

people are grillin’ & chillin’ but word is that there are police en route.

the majority of the crowd is gathered near one of the few entrances to the circle (the state encircled the space with concrete barriers a few days ago) and appear to be ready to be attacked.

the crowd is standing with their fists up for 8 minutes, 46 seconds.
“when they tell y’all to go home, say WE ARE HOME!” the crowd shouts back “WE ARE HOME!”

“nobody on the other side was hurt. all of our people were hurt,” says a young activist who was tear gassed and arrested last night while peacefully engaging in a sit-in protest outside city hall.

the sign looks amazing

a truck dropped off two picnic tables! there is really beautiful community care going on here.

shout out to the projectionist for making sure everyone has the number for the bail fund!

“also, i would like to say the biggest fuck you of all to the state police,” says a young organizer who has also lead the crowds in chants of “fuck mayor stoney” and “fuck blackwell” (the new police chief)

“they live through me and they live through you,” she says of people who have died in the struggle. “thirty years ago i probably would’ve been killed for what i’m doing now.”

speakers are addressing a seated crowd. he reminds us that cops are staging not far from here, probably giving speeches of their own.
“we over here chillin’, we’re cookin’ chicken!” says one speaker.
“we’re winning right now.”

i’m not quite sure how to properly express the enormous cognitive dissonance of looking simultaneously at people joyfully grilling & serving food and watching a crowd prepare to be assaulted as rumors that riot cops are approaching increase in intensity.

some people are eating burgers and some people are wearing gas masks and goggles. people around the edges are holding shields.

the wheelchair accessible ramp has been flipped up to close off this access point in the concrete barriers

everything’s still pretty chill here. some guy livestreaming on youtube was asked to stop. a guy in a hawaiian shirt carrying a gun was also asked to stop streaming. everybody’s just hanging out. i’ve had a lot of free fruit snacks.

protesters counted down to midnight like it was new year’s eve & gave a big cheer when it hit 12! the crowd is peaceful, cheerful, and many are headed home to bed.

i’m using a very kind stranger’s bathroom at the moment, but i just heard a firework. it was followed by clapping & cheering, so it’s all good.

plenty of people still here in marcus-david peters circle, listening to music, playing basketball, eating free food, sitting on the grass, and just hanging out. when riot cops stay away, there is no riot.

i just walked through a mini soccer game over to the food tent & got some water. the art here is beautiful & the vibe is very chill.

@GoadGatsby and i are sitting at this picnic table reading each other’s tweets

just lying in the grass thinking about how nice it is when there’s no cops

“for safety purposes”

which is weird because we’re actually perfectly safe here because the police left us alone. the threat to people’s safety IS the police.

it’s like we all keep saying, “don’t start no shit, won’t be no shit.”
when the cops don’t attack people, people just hang out until they get tired and then they go home.
there’s still a few people out here, but i’m out for the night.

lmao fuck the police. i walked a half mile to my car and then hear the police just showed up at the statue.

a state trooper a block from the statue is telling me the entire block is closed because “of the curfew on the monument grounds”

seems unnecessary

what are they threatening to disperse with chemical weapons? there’s nobody even here

they wait until the crowd is thin. until the cameras are gone.

dozens of riot cops are sweeping the area around the statue, destroying items left behind by the peaceful community gathering

a very different kind of gathering taking place now where the community was just hanging out eating snacks not too long ago

there are at least a dozen cops per person here. there is no gathering. there is no assembly, unlawful or otherwise. there are just scores of angry cops threatening a few people standing around on a public sidewalk. no one is on the monument grounds except cops.

hey @GovernorVA, cops are willfully misinterpreting this to threaten the use of chemical weapons on people standing in richmond city sidewalks, nowhere near the state property around the lee statue. the cops are about to riot again. https://twitter.com/dgsvirginia/status/1275467039138775041?s=21

i really can’t even fathom what the aim is of waiting for like 99% of people to leave, then aggressively deploying 100 riot cops on a group of a dozen people who were about to go home anyway. what’s the goal? is this a win for them?

the cruelty is the point. the violence is the point. they are an occupying force. they hate us, probably even more than we hate them. they are having a bad time and they want to take it out on us when the crowd has thinned out enough that maybe it won’t be on film.

you know, i think they knew if they attacked a crowd of people sitting on the grass eating hotdogs, they’d look like monsters. if they let the night pass without attacking anyone, they’d look weak. they couldn’t let the rule get flouted so blatantly. so they waited.

this is a residential street. a public street. with public sidewalks. if they attack people for the crime of... being outside??? how can they guarantee its “protesters” and not just people standing on their own lawns?

one woman was yelling at the riot line a few minutes ago “THIS IS MY YARD”

cops are refusing to allow pedestrians to pass through the area to get home. they keep making the announcement that anyone in the area is subject to arrest or the use of chemical agents.

hey @LevarStoney, your cops are about to riot again. you gonna let this keep happening every night?

there are like... a dozen people here. tops. this is an absolutely baffling show of force. https://twitter.com/aeringle/status/1275686549737353218?s=21

there was no “safety” problem until the cops came! the police are a threat to public safety.

i think part of the problem now, too, is that people are afraid to move. there are cops everywhere. what if we try to disperse but they interpret that as advancing on them? i can’t get to my car without walking TOWARD the MRAP.

how much does it cost per hour to have these dorks try to blind me with a flashlight while i’m just standing alone on the sidewalk?

multiple people have reported to me that they were stopped by police within a few blocks of here just trying to get home. police are using an extremely narrow state order (a curfew on just the grass around the monument) to harass people on bikes, on foot, and in their cars.

they’re using flashlights to blind us so we can’t see what they’re doing, but i hear the sound of a hammer hitting something hard from inside the circle. i assume cops are dismantling community improvements to the space.

just burnin’ gas running that MRAP for no reason at all

wow remember this? this was nice.

https://twitter.com/socialistdogmom/status/1275665287631732738?s=21 https://twitter.com/socialistdogmom/status/1275665287631732738

this is so ridiculous. we’d all be home in bed by now if they’d just left everyone alone.

this guy needs to stop pointing his gun at people

“how can i go home? how can i lay in my bed when people are being threatened outside?” a young woman standing at the barricade across from 100 riot cops asks them. they are silent.

technically we’re allowed back in the circle in an hour and a half

a metric fuckton of riot cops are here just watching one state employee trash people’s stuff.

they’re shining flashlights at us so we can’t film them picking up the flowers & small tokens left at memorials for people murdered by police that surround the base of the lee statue

the cops had been just chillin in the middle of the circle while the state employees threw stuff away, but they all just buckled their helmets and lined back up against the barricades around the edge of the circle

the sky is starting to get light. the birds are chirping. the cops just tore down the community library tent.

they’ve moved back again

they’re all having a little meeting now. hopefully it’s because they’re deciding to leave and it’s not a pre-gas pep talk

@GovernorVA, please advise. was your order re: closing the park sunset to sunrise assuming civil, nautical, or astronomical sunrise?
cops really shouldn’t be trusted to interpret things or use discretion.

the MRAP just drove away. i said “bye bitch!” and one of the cops hanging off the back said “bye molly.” sorry, you’re legally a bitch now. i don’t make the rules.

the sun is rising over marcus-david peters circle

someone out here just pointed out that the karens and lindas will be out for their morning jogs in this affluent neighborhood pretty soon. they absolutely cannot risk tear gassing a single rich jogger.

this is what they protect & serve

bye

as the cops load into the backs of waiting trucks, about a dozen of us immediately re-enter marcus-david peters circle. protesters climbed the base of the statue and chanted “black lives matter!” at the retreating riot cops.

good morning

abolish the police, black lives matter, and good morning. taking goad to get the wawa sandwich i promised him like four hours ago.

and, just in case this isn’t abundantly clear, goad and i are just taking the notes. we stayed because that small group of black & brown young people stayed. we are safer together & none of us are safe until all of us are safe.