Read on Twitter
I've seen a lot of people talking about what occurred last night in Worcester MA with the riot that has led to 21 arrests and 2 hospitalizations and being a member of the media I'm making this thread to report what I saw happen.
The protest organized by Khrystian King was entirely peaceful, a number of speakers from the community gave very inspiring speeches and more people came to attend this protest then I'd seen ever attend a protest in Worcester before.
Councilman King tried to disperse the protesters and the vast majority left, around 150 people stayed around city hall enjoying their evening by throwing frisbees or relaxing with their friends.
After an hour or so the remaining crowd began leading chants while talking about bringing their message across Worcester. That’s when I circled the outside of the park and noticed some of the officers appeared to have covered up their badge numbers.
Eventually the protestors began marching down Portland Street. Police were quick send squad cars to direct traffic and began guiding the protestors towards main south.
At one point they did stop to lay in the empty road to honor the memory of George Floyd but quickly left when traffic cane and kept moving.
Eventually they make it the Dunkin Donuts on main south when police in riot gear pull up.
That's when the riot squad starts to form a wall between them and the protesters and make their first arrest of a woman who was standing on the sidewalk away from the majority of the protesters.
Police violently shove the protesters from the parking lot only for the head of the protest to agree to disperse if the cops agree to kneel with them in memory of George Floyd. Three cops do but the protesters say they won't leave until all of the riot cops join them.
The cops instead begin to march forward to push the protesters back. Some are asking where they are supposed to go as police have blocked off most of the side streets preventing them from leaving.
The next 10 minutes are spent with the cops marching forward and occasionally speeding up to be able to grab people infront of them, during this time they apparently grabbed and slammed a young teen to the ground. A large number of the protesters also said they were minors.
https://streamable.com/lqxq76
Video posted here as Twitter for some reason won't let me upload it.
Video posted here as Twitter for some reason won't let me upload it.
Eventually cops charge at the crowd before taking another girl into custody.
Another video I received after speaking to the girls mother sent by Franchesca Hammond, the sister of the girl.
After this the police finally begin shooting at the crowd with pepper spray BBs. No warning was given and not a single protester had acted violently in anyway thus far.
The crowd soon shrinks to around 10 people as police start shooting rubber bullets and tear gas to try and hit them from such a far distance away.
In an interview one of the protesters explains what happened so far as police begin to use tear gas.
Within 10 minutes of police open firing with tear gas the 10 remaining protestors are soon joined by dozens of locals around the neighborhood who left their homes trying to investigate the noise outside only to join the protestors when they realized what was happening.
As you can see in the video, many residents were definitely walking towards the police as they shot projectiles while insulting their aim.
While I'm interviewing this girl a few dozen more people leave their homes to join the fight, some telling me they are going to do whatever they need to do to protect the neighborhood from the police and claiming that the Worcester PD has terrorized the neighborhood for years.
After a half hour of non-stop bombardment a few members of the crowd began throwing the tear gas canisters back at police while someone also brought fireworks.
A few people then begin to throwing rocks at police, though they miss for the most part until a police car speeds down the street letting one of the men shatter its back window with a rock. Another man tries to break a store window but the crowd convinced him to stop.
At this point I’d identified myself as press and asked a sergeant if I might be at risk of being arrested if I stayed I was told that it would be fine if I wasn’t the breaking law and wouldn’t be targeted.
I stood away from the crowd to avoid the projectiles strafing the street only to have the officer go out of his way to shoot at me. The same officer was standing next to the sergeant when he told me I wouldn’t be targeted and I was close enough that he could clearly see who I was
I was forced to head back to the crowd to avoid being targeted and soon the riot squad began to advance again. @uspresstracker
Eventually someone aimed a firework at police and they began using percussion grenades as they began to approach, at that point someone set a fire to a small brush that quickly burned itself out. Police continued to push the crowd back and used tear gas.
Around that time a reporter from masslive arrived on the scene as the amount of chaos and people coming onto the streets increased. Police seemed to target people on their porches or in their back yards as they moved forward.
Riot squad is again hit by a flair.
Police continue to advance as another riot squad appears on the other side of the street. Both start to charge at the crowd to trap them.
Soon the masslive reporter I’m with is detained by police, for his privacy I edit out most of the video but he ends up being let go and allowed to leave
As I’m leaving the area I spot a black van with a group of men inside in black tactical gear, it didn’t appear the gear had any markings or patches to identify it as law enforcement. I’d seen multiple vans like it driving down smaller streets.
At this point my phone cuts out. I end up making it to the end of the police barricade where a crowd of 20 people around the neighborhood are demanding to know what is going on. Police refuse to give them info and they begin to argue.
Someone on the third floor of a nearby building starts playing the NWO song, "Fuck the police." Which causes people to start dancing in the street. The police then charge forward at the crowd and arrest at least 2 people.
Around St. Vincent's Hospital I run into a man with an injury on his hand claiming that he had been trying to get home when he saw a barricade on the street. He told me he tried to approach the officer to ask what was going on and the officer set the k9 loose to attack the man.
Another man told me he had just finished a 14 hour shift at his work due to corona and was driving home when police stopped him and searched his car. After finding nothing police ordered him to leave on foot or be arrested.
I also witnessed police ordering drivers away from main south and accusing them of being part of the riots, when many were either taxi or uber drivers who clearly had no idea what was going on.
After heading to the police station to try and get more info about what just happened that night I find @MassBailFund is there to help bail the arrested protesters out. I spend the next few hours waiting there before some of those arrested were released.
I interview three people who were arrested on camera and three who didn’t want to be filmed. All say they were arrested without cause and brutalized by the police, two of them didn’t know a protest was going and simply were outside their homes nearby.
Apologies for any errors in this thread. I have not slept for 3 days at this point but I think its important that everyone knows what happened at the, Worcester Riot. I've covered rallies like this in places across the country and never seen anything like what I saw last night.
