Saturday protest smaller in Atlanta
One protester was arrested Saturday night at about 11 p.m., after a group of more than 100 demonstrators blocked Midtown intersections and were rebuffed by police in their attempt to get onto the interstate.
The protest, in response to police killing two African-American men last week, involved more than 100 people who marched from the 17th Street Bridge through Midtown. They walked through traffic on Peachtree Street and up Edgewood Avenue, chanting on the trek.
The demonstration Saturday was in stark contrast to Friday night, when an estimated 10,000 people took to the streets downtown, in a mostly peaceful protest. There were just a few arrests Friday — people who tried to go onto the interstate.
Police seemed to employ a similar strategy Saturday, giving protesters wide latitude without cracking down.
The protests come after a week in which African American men were shot by police in Louisiana and Minnesota. On Thursday, a sniper killed five white Dallas police officers and wounded seven others, as they tended to a peaceful protest in that city.
About the Author
Dan Klepal is editor of the local government team, supervising nine reporters covering county and municipal governments and metro Atlanta. Klepal came to the AJC in 2012, after a long career covering city halls in Cincinnati and Louisville, Ky. He has covered Gwinnett and Cobb counties before spending three years on the investigative team.
