Demonstrators readied to gather later today. Atlanta police reviewed their plans to control crowds – and, if it happens, to curtail violence.
Across the city, people waited and wondered how the events in Ferguson, Mo., would play out tonight in Atlanta.
A grand jury in St. Louis County, Mo., declined to indict Ferguson Police Officer Darren Wilson in the shooting death of Michael Brown, 18. The young man was unarmed when Wilson shot him Aug. 9, touching off protests that spread in waves from the heartland to every corner of America. Officials in Ferguson announced the decision Tuesday night, prompting violence in the St. Louis suburb.
Atlanta passed the night quietly, police said. Savannah, where a grand jury is to consider whether to charge police in the shooting of a handcuffed suspect, reported no unrest.
Today, protesters are planning to gather at Underground Atlanta at 5 p.m. The demonstration, called “SpeakOUT,” will be a public display of displeasure over the events in Ferguson.
No demonstrations are planned today in Savannah. “We’ve already protested in August on Bay Street,” said Maurice Nelson, the president of the NAACP’s student chapter at Savannah State University. “Now, it’s more important to look at changing the laws and educating our community.”
Atlanta’s downtown merchants and residents have no reason to be afraid, said Janetta Hill, who’s been active in protests since Brown’s killing.
“It will be a peaceful gathering,” said Hill, 18, a freshman at the University of Wisconsin. This morning, she was wrapping up classes and preparing to take a plane home to her native Atlanta.
She said the demonstration today will be a precursor to another protest: “Blackout,” billed as an international exercise of black buying power. The protest calls for African-Americans to buy from black merchants, and is set to take place on Black Friday, the traditional kickoff of the holiday shopping season. Word of the financial protests has been spreading since Brown’s death.
“It’s to prove the power of the black dollar,” Hill said. “We’re tired of the monstrosities happening to people of color.”
Atlanta Police reviewed their plans and said they’re ready.
“The plan is the same,” said Atlanta Police Officer Ralph Woolfolk, a spokesman for the Atlanta Police Department. “We all anticipate peaceful protests. We’ll do whatever we can to make sure that happens. We will be supportive of anyone who wishes to express their First Amendment rights.”
A spokesperson for Atlanta Mayor Kasim Reed said the mayor believes police are prepared for tonight.
“If (anything happens), we’re confident they can handle it,” said Anne Torres, the mayor’s director of communications. “We’re expecting everything to be peaceful and nonviolent — not near to anything like what happened in Ferguson.”
William “Chick” Ciccaglione, general manager of Underground Atlanta, struck a business-as-usual note this morning as word passed by email, text and other social media that the downtown shopping district is ground zero for protests.
Police said they would make sure protests were nonviolent, said Ciccaglione, and “we’re working closely with them.”
The protest tonight is to highlight police violence on people of color, said Aurielle Marie, another organizer.
“It’s cripping our young people in urban communities,” said Marie, 19. “The people of Atlanta are impassioned and in anguish. We want to express ourselves in a nonviolent and passionate manner.”
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