Hundreds protest peacefully in West Philadelphia five days after Walter Wallace Jr. killing (original) (raw)
PHILADELPHIA – After three nights of calm following two nights of unrest, hundreds of protesters filled West Philadelphia streets Saturday afternoon after city police officers killed 27-year-old Walter Wallace Jr. Monday afternoon as the Black man walked toward them with a knife.
There were no arrests made and no looting or violence occurred during the two-plus hours of demonstrating on city blocks and in a park.
Protesters were met by a line of Philadelphia Police officers on bikes and in riot gear behind a barricade in the area around the 18th district police building. There, multiple speakers addressed the diverse group.
They chanted Wallace's name, "Black lives matter" and denounced police violence.
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With the general election three days away, politics was a frequent topic. Some protesters wore stickers calling for the removal of President Trump. One speaker said Joe Biden wasn't perfect, but was a step in the right direction. Another pointed to Philadelphia being a Democrat-run city.
"I don’t want to hear (stuff) about how an election is going to help police stop killing Black people," she said.
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On the outskirts of the crowd gathered near the precinct at 56th and Pine streets, one Black woman, who only identified herself as Andrea, passionately spoke to officers lined up on the street.
"When I saw all of the cops lined up like that, they just look like they have no remorse or no feelings at all," she said later.
"My son is 20 and he's a Black man and I think that's one of the reasons I feel the way I feel. Every time, I'm crying."
Saturday's protest was scheduled to start at 61st and Locust streets in Philadelphia's Cobbs Creek neighborhood, a predominantly Black community where Wallace Jr. was killed. But as protesters began to arrive, a few residents shouted them away.
The protest was organized by multiple groups. Christopher Bowman of I Will Breathe, a Philly-based activist group, greeted the gathering at the beginning before the march started. He spoke out against the looting and unrest in the neighborhood in the days prior.
"We're not here to destroy, we're here to elevate," he said. "When you destroy homes in this section of the city, when you destroy businesses in this section of the city, it lowers property values."
Later, after several hundred marched multiple city blocks, the protest gathered in Malcolm X Park, site of recent demonstrations.
There, members of the Black Philly Radical Collective – a group of organizations fighting for the abolishing of traditional police and against police violence – spoke on a stage to the group about its movement. The park was also holding a Halloween costume party for kids sponsored by Black Lives Matter Philly.
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National Guard troops arrived in Philadelphia Friday after being mobilized following two nights of unrest after Wallace's death. The city installed a curfew Wednesday night and then again on Friday. There was no curfew set for Saturday night.
City officials said they plan to release the body cam footage and 911 calls from the incident on Wednesday.
During a press conference Thursday, a lawyer representing the family, Shaka Johnson, said the family was not calling for the District Attorney to press charges against the officers.
Contact Jeff Neiburg at jneiburg@delawareonline.com. Follow him on Twitter @Jeff_Neiburg.