REGION — Groups of demonstrators hit the streets in the San Diego area for an eighth straight day today, marching, chanting and holding protest signs aloft to honor the memory of George Floyd and to demand racial equity and an end to excessive force in the nation’s policing.
Rallies began in Carlsbad and Escondido in the mid-afternoon, with similar gatherings expected to materialize in Oceanside, San Diego and other communities later in the day, authorities said. There were no reports of violence or arrests in connection with the protests as of 2:30 p.m.
Though police use-of-force demonstrations in La Mesa and downtown San Diego last weekend devolved into looting and rioting after dark, daily protests since Sunday have remained largely peaceful, resulting in few arrests and only minor acts of vandalism.
Nonetheless, some 200 members of the California National Guard were deployed this week to the county in an attempt to prevent any recurrences of destructive chaos, with about half of the personnel sent to La Mesa.
Also on Friday, the Carlsbad Police Department announced that it has enacted all eight policies recommended by the creators of a national campaign designed to prevent excessive use of force on the part of law enforcement personnel.
The “8 Can’t Wait” program, created by anti-police-brutality agency Campaign Zero, has gained national attention from Los Angeles to New York for its simple, customizable message. According to the organization, the institutional changes list can decrease police violence by 72%.
The policies include banning chokeholds; requiring de-escalation tactics; requiring warning before shooting; exhausting all other means before shooting; requiring other officers to intervene in the event of excessive force; banning shooting at vehicles; requiring use of “force continuum,”” or a reasonable amount of force for a situation; and requiring comprehensive reporting on use-of-force incidents.
6 comments
Daniel, I am so sorry your kids aren’t able to be in classrooms or at graduation ceremonies, or in camp for the summer. I can only imagine as a parent how this disruption of your life must feel like.
However, can you take a moment to leave your bubble and see with greater perspective, what is going on? That people are standing up for equal rights and treatment of all? That people are waking up to injustices that have been happening all around them and they have been willfully blind to? I was one of them. I was ignorant thinking we were further along than we were.
Rather than being concerned that your kids couldn’t ATTEND their graduation, maybe think about the many black kids who never even make it to that point.
All these people are violating the state and county health stay at home orders.
Change the orders or get these people off the streets. Our kids cannot go to school, cannot have graduation or have sports camps.
Lets have graduations and just call them protests. They will close major streets for that…..
Politicians stop this double standard and ambiguity. Lift the orders or dont allow the protests. It’s a joke.
Daniel, I have dyslexia and Asperger’s syndrome, but even I was able to understand what this protest truly means. My family wares face coverings and we practice social distancing out of respect for our fellow human beings. With that said, TFB that OUR kids weren’t able to walk for graduation or go to sports camps – which are actually a great way to get rid of YOUR troublesome kids while at work or… (?) Children and young adults will remember this moment in American history better than their high school graduation! They’ll be able to recount this extraordinary and historic, lifetime event with their future children and their grandchildren, God willing. So please, don’t spoil it for them with your rhetoric.
Agreed. Great economic forethinkers they are continuing to head to business areas, scaring customers away and causing small businesses to board up to protect themselves from the messages of “peace” that have been spread with bricks and baseball bats. Down with “the man” who opposes us with jobs and paychecks!
Gale, I was part of one of those protests and we stayed away from businesses and marched very peacefully down the 101, stopping in a park where we sat and discussed ways that we can make a real change in our communities. There was nothing even close to a brick or baseball bat present. Please take a moment to stop watching the news and connect with what is really going on – well intentioned people from different communities coming together to stand and learn. I’m speaking in regards to this protest in particular and ask that you not make blanket assumptions from other situations either.
So easy for privilege 20 somethings to get out and call injustice for a race most of them have never friended. Including my own sons.
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