Thousands of demonstrators gathered in downtown Raleigh this evening as part of a nationwide protest of police brutality in the wake of George Floyd’s death at the hands of a white cop in Minneapolis on Monday.
For the first few hours, the protest was relatively quiet and peaceful. By about 9:00 p.m., however, things had taken a turn. About 50 protesters began busting windows at the Wake County Public Safety Center. The Raleigh Police responded with tear gas.
INDY reporter Leigh Tauss—who just got tear-gassed—and Triad City Beat reporter Jordan Green are on the scene. To get the play-by-play of how the day progressed, check out Leigh’s Twitter feed.
This is a developing story.
Update 9:25: A group of guys just smashed up the Jimmy John’s.
Update 9:42:
And a flag burning:
Update 9:45: Almost every building on Fayetteville Street has been smashed, Tauss reports.
Update 9:52: Flag burning failed; flag used for other purposes.
Couldn’t quite burn the flag, so this guy used it to smash a window #Raleigh pic.twitter.com/qV1kQbWfTA
— Leigh of House (@LeighTauss) May 31, 2020
Update 10:07: Fire started at the CVS, Jordan reports.
Update 10:15: They smashed the INDY’s Raleigh office (while Leigh was inside getting water).
Went back to my office to get some water. I work at a progressive newspaper. Someone threw a brick through the window while I was inside. I stepped outside and immediately inhaled tear gas. #Raleigh. pic.twitter.com/gLrE55h5Cg
— Leigh of House (@LeighTauss) May 31, 2020
Final update 10:35: Leigh and Jordan have managed to get out of downtown. There are small bands of rioters roaming around smashing things, Jordan says. He believes they are organic and local, not outsiders or infiltrators. We’ll have more tomorrow and in this week’s paper.
From earlier this evening:
In case you’re wondering how things went south:
I was sitting on the steps of the courthouse seconds before tear gassing began. It was COMPLETELY peaceful and turned to madness in SECONDS. https://t.co/OFLJp0CjUb
— amberly diana (@ylrebmad) May 31, 2020
Contact Raleigh news editor Leigh Tauss at ltauss@indyweek.com.
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