St. Louis Protesters and Police Clash Amid Calls for Resignation of Mayor
Written by SOURCE on July 12, 2020
Protesters are still demanding that St. Louis City Mayor Lyda Krewson resign from office, with a stand-off between demonstrators and police getting heated outside City Hall on Sunday.
The St. Louis Post-Dispatch reports that seven people were arrested and two police officers were injured on Sunday morning as police attempted to remove demonstrators from outside City Hall. Officers tried to clear the building’s front steps and lawn at around 4 a.m. on Friday, where protesters had begun camping out amid demands for Krewson’s resignation. A group of around 150 people came back by nighttime, outfitted with signs, couches, tents, a movie projector, and a basketball hoop.
Police removed protesters again on early Sunday morning and then erected metal barricades around City Hall. Then, around 7:30 a.m., protesters knocked down the barricades and entered the property. Local KMOV news reporter Caroline Hecker tweeted that the demonstrators grabbed her crew’s camera and “threatened to beat us up unless we left.”
Seven people were arrested for various charges, including assault, trespassing, interfering with arrest, drug possession, and parole violation. One officer suffered a possible broken arm, while details of the second officer’s injuries remained unknown.
Protesters have been calling for Krewson’s resignation since late June, when, on Facebook Live, she read out loud the names and addresses of people who had written her letters asking to defund the police department. While the video was pulled from Facebook and Krewson issued an apology, she was met with resounding criticism.
A petition demanding her departure has now amassed almost 61,000 signatures as of this writing. However, Krewson says she will not resign.
