by: WOODTV.com staff
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GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. (WOOD) — Police say what was supposed to be a peaceful silent protest in downtown Grand Rapids Saturday over the death of George Floyd and police brutality against minorities was first loud, then led to tagging and ultimately devolved into vandalism and fire starting as evening turned into night.
GRPD didn’t immediately respond to the protest, which while massive from the start was initially peaceful.
Officers said once the crowd became unruly and smashed out the front glass door of a business, they had to respond. Of the next couple of hours, there was a huge police presence and officers fired round after round of tear gas to try to get people to disperse.
NEWS 8 chronicle of the developing civil unrest downtown:
11:50 p.m.:
Now having expanded their perimeter a block east to the Grand Rapids Children’s Museum, police are still working to get people to go home. An armored vehicle is part of the police line, which also includes many officers holding their bicycles in front of them as a sort of makeshift shield.
It’s been about two hours since police fired the first round of tear gas.
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