HAMPTON, Va. (WAVY) — Four individuals, including two adults and two juveniles, were arrested after protesters descended in Fort Monroe in Hampton Friday evening in protest of the death of George Floyd, a black man killed by a Minneapolis Police officer earlier this week.
Black Lives Matter 757 organized two gatherings in Hampton Roads Friday called “blackout757.”
The demonstration began at approximately 7:57 p.m. and the crowd moved on foot along the seawall at Fort Monroe to the gazebo.
Police say the crowd eventually dispersed from the interstate but reconvened in the area of Peninsula Town Center. After marching through the streets of the Peninsula Town Center, the group made its way onto Cunningham Drive, and eventually onto W. Mercury Boulevard near the Interstate 64 interchange around 9 p.m.
Their signs read “Black Lives Matter” and “No justice, no peace, no police brutality.”
A livestream on the Black Lives Matter 757 Facebook page showed protesters walking eastbound near the HRBT down the entrance ramp off Mallory Street.
Before the protest, Hampton Police say they reached out to the organizers prior to the event to make sure the planned demonstrations would be safe and peaceful.
According to reports, the crowd split into two groups. One group comprised of Black Lives Matter 757 coordinators made its way back to the Peninsula Town Center and dispersed peacefully.
The second group remained in the area of W. Mercury Boulevard. That crowd confronted officers in the Lidl parking lot who went to that area for security, and the police say demonstrators physically blocked traffic in both directions on W. Mercury Boulevard.
That group was instructed to disperse, however, the crowd refused to comply and some began to throw items at officers on the scene, police say.
Four individuals, including two adults and two juveniles, were arrested for charges including assault on law enforcement and disorderly conduct. The situation was resolved just before 2:30 a.m.
Hampton Police say that although they support the demonstrators’ right to peacefully protest, demonstrations that insight violence and mayhem “cannot and will not be tolerated.”