So, I attended the Austin protest and March yesterday, and I feel like I should talk about what I saw (1/?)

We got to the capital around 12:15, around an hour after the protest was supposedly cancelled. Hundreds of people were still gathered at the capital fences, making speeches and chanting. (2/?)

I noticed inside the capitals fences, were about 3 lines of cops and what looked like military with riot shields and guns. The March and the real protest hadn’t even really started yet, and they were trying to intimidate us. (3/?)

The March began with a walk down to Austin city hall where there was little to no police presence. There were a few more speeches and a stuffed pig was set on fire in front of the main doors. People were also spray painting “Fuck 12” (for the 12th precinct) on the grounds.(4/?)

Afterwards, we got some police presence making our way down Chavez. I was not at the front, so I could not see what was happening, but this is what I know. Everyone (including me) held up their hands and began chanting “hands up. Don’t shoot.” (5/?)

There was a loud bang near the front of the crowd and almost everyone started running backwards. After walking back maybe 5 feet, we began pushing forward again. Then, (it seems) the cops let us through, and we started marching again. (6/?)

Eventually we made our way back to the capital, and started circling around to walk towards the police headquarters. This is also where I-35 has an overpass with the street below. About half of the group (including ya) went to the highway, blocking traffic (7/?)

After seeing the line of police enter the highway, I got a little hesitant. My fears were confirmed when we heard another shot and people running down from the highway. We followed. Police began firing towards protestors (couldn’t tell if they hit at this point) (8/?)

While I didn’t know if they were warning shots or if they hit anyone, I then saw the police getting off the highway, firing a single rifle, and protestors now throwing bottles. It’s worth noting, I didn’t see any bottle being thrown until the police began shooting (9/?)

After the cops were driven off the highway, people began cheering. Many people went back up on the highway, while other gathered in front of the police headquarters to listen to speeches. Cops were guarding the entrances, guns, shields and all. (10/?)

After a bit of listening and watching, we heard a loudspeaker from a helicopter, telling people to “get off the highway or tear gas may be used.” People began getting back on the highway, a large number too. (11/?)

After about 10 minutes of hearing the helicopters warnings someone tells me that there were shots coming from behind us. As if the cops were trying to surround us. That’s when I saw the cops moving up to the highway again. (12/?)

Finally, after another 5 minutes, I saw some white smoke begin on the highway. Then a little more. Until it grew to be a very thick cloud. Several protestors ran back down the hill and onto solid ground while others ran across the bridge further onto the highway. (13/?)

We then heard more shots ring out, and we decided to start running. We ran about 2 blocks before deciding to break. The cloud had either dispearsed or traveled elsewhere. I saw people suffering from the effects, everyone needing milk or solution for the pain. (14/?)

Finally, the crowd still assembled down further, near the headquarters again, but we decided to call it. We were tired, and it seemed like many of the protestors were leaving as well. I applaud those who decided to stay, however. It was starting to look bad. (15/?)

I’d like to end this by saying, that the protest started at about a couple hundred people it looked like and grew into thousands. Everywhere we marched cars honked in solidarity, and people joined from off the street. (16/?)

From what I saw and what I heard, the police should not have acted the way they did. Seeing the aftermath then on tv made it seem hopeless. There were people I had been walking next to getting pepper sprayed and shot at on tv and they weren’t doing anything wrong. (17/?)

I don’t care what your opinion is on looting or rioting. I don’t care how you think others ‘should’ feel about this. This has become a fight. This is a scary reality we are facing where it is becoming a crime to speak your mind. You piss off one cop, it’s downhill (18/?)

If there is one thing to take away from this, it’s that this has become a fight for us all. If you feel useless, get up and do something. If you feel like nothing will change, make it change. Hoping is not enough. It never was. Acting on it is how we win. (19/19)

(Edit) if you can clarify/ if I got anything wrong in this thread, please reply to the tweet or DM me