Protests on the west side of Michigan turned even more violent than in Detroit on Saturday night, with demonstrators in Grand Rapids breaking windows and setting…
Protests on the west side of Michigan turned even more violent than in Detroit on Saturday night, with demonstrators in Grand Rapids breaking windows and setting fire to cars and government offices.
Like in Detroit, the protest began peacefully but ended in violence.
The protests were among many held nationwide in the past few days following the death of 46-year-old George Floyd, a black man, who died after a white police officer knelt on his neck during an arrest Monday in Minneapolis.
In Michigan, there also were rallies in Flint Township, Ann Arbor, Kalamazoo and Lansing. Media reports said those were generally peaceful events. In Flint Township, Genesee County Sheriff Chris Swanson ended up joining the march.
But in Grand Rapids, the protest was especially emotional because Breonna Taylor — a 26-year-old African-American emergency room technician killed by police in Louisville, Ky., in March — was a Grand Rapids native.
Early Sunday morning, Grand Rapids Mayor Rosalynn Bliss tweeted that she supported the community’s “need and right to express its anger and pain,” but called the “violence, chaos and destruction” unacceptable.
