(Photo courtesy of Todd Aurand)
Dozens of demonstrators gathered at Jackson Square Wednesday to protest police violence hours after a Kentucky ex-cop was indicted in connection to the shooting of Breonna Taylor but ultimately cleared of her death.
At least three dozen people gathered at Washington Artillery Park and the Decatur Street entrance to Jackson Square at about 7:30 p.m.
Three speakers addressed the crowd for several minutes before marching towards the Central Business District.
“I think most of us knew that it was going to be fucked up today,” one speaker said. “[For] those of us who have been paying attention, I think we knew that today was going to be not what Breonna Taylor deserved.”
Taylor, 26-year-old certified emergency medical technician, an was shot and killed during a botched police raid on her apartment on March 13.
A grand jury cleared all three officers who fired their guns in the raid—onathan Mattingly, Brett Hankison, and Myles Cosgrove—but returned an indictment against Hankison for allegedly shooting his gun into the apartment next to Taylor’s.
Wednesday’s announcement sparked protests in various cities across the country, including in Louisiville, where two officers were shot during the unrest.
“How we gonna make New Orleans Rise?” “Educate, educate, organize!” pic.twitter.com/B7GHyLLggA
— The Quarter Rat (@QuarterRatNOLA) September 24, 2020
UPDATED March to protest music restrictions, bar shutdowns planned for Saturday in the French Quarter