Shots were fired and several people arrested in Mobile Sunday night after a peaceful protest turned violent.
Hours after thousands marched through the downtown area in protest at the death of George Floyd, resulting in a brief clash with police at the entrance to Interstate 10, a small group of around 100 people made its way to the old Babies R Us store on Airport Boulevard.
The protests in Mobile mirror many of those going on in Alabama and across the country, resulting in mass vandalism, violence and clashes with local law enforcement. Protests in Birmingham appeared to turn violent quickly as protesters targeted Confederate monuments.
The small Mobile group, which set up in the parking lot, started out by singing, dancing and chanting while five police officers watched on from a grassy verge off the I-65 service road.
As protesters accidentally spilled on to the service road, law enforcement was forced to divert the busy Sunday evening traffic. A senior MPD officer assembled organizers and asked them to stay off the road. Some did not.
As the crowds grew, so did the presence and look of the MPD officers nearby.
The group of five officers quickly multiplied to 20 and were all wearing riot gear. A SWAT van arrived, as did several additional police vehicles.
The protest remained peaceful until one man was grabbed by several advancing police officers. The black man was forced to his knees, handcuffed and placed in the back of a police van.
It appeared he was arrested for walking on the road. Until that point he had been begging with people to stay in the parking lot.
Questions from AL.com about why the man had been arrested went unanswered.
Not long after the arrest, an officer holding a can of pepper spray joined the group standing on the grassy verge. Around the same time a white photographer was taken aside by police for walking on the road. He was not arrested.
Protesters at the back of the main group began throwing water bottles at officers. Some of the officers advanced to the middle of the parking lot and were quickly surrounded by at least 100 people. After blasting pepper spray from a can at those around them, the officers then retreated.
More water bottles were thrown, at which point the senior officer immediately declared the protest over. “How would you like it if I threw water bottles at you?” said the officer to a protester as he walked toward the group in the parking lot.
As officers advanced on the crowd, one MPD officer began shooting pepper balls from what looked like a paint ball gun. All the officers moved into the parking lot and ordered people to leave, threatening them with arrest and having their cars towed.
It took a further 30 minutes to clear the vehicles and crowds. Most moved to an adjacent parking lot. No businesses were vandalized and no known injuries were reported to police.
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May 31, 2020 at 10:39PM
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Police shoot pepper balls at Mobile activists as peaceful protest turns violent - AL.com
"Mobile" - Google News
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