Demonstrations against police brutality took place in cities large and small across Texas this weekend.
June 1, 2020
A wave of protests swept across Texas cities this weekend to oppose police brutality and systemic racism, a response in part to the death of George Floyd in Minneapolis last week. Floyd, a 46-year-old Black man and former Houstonite, was killed when a white police officer handcuffed him and pinned him to the ground. A video shows Floyd struggling to breathe as the officer holds his knee to Floyd’s neck for nearly nine minutes. The Hennepin County Medical Examiner and experts hired by Floyd’s family both concluded his death was a homicide, though they differ on what caused it. After the video depicting the death went viral, a chain of massive protests spread across the country.
Police in Austin and Dallas fired tear gas and rubber bullets at crowds of demonstrators, seriously injuring several people and sparking demands that chiefs in both cities to step down. In San Antonio, anti-racism marchers were met by a heavily armed right-wing group at the Alamo as well as police who shot tear gas, pepper spray, and rubber and wooden projectiles at protesters. According to the Houston Chronicle, an estimated 274 people were arrested in Houston on Saturday night alone. The protests and police response to the demonstrations have fueled a growing movement calling for divestment from law enforcement and reinvestment in social services like mental health, addiction treatment, and public housing.
