Police ignored Black Lives Matter protesters in Washington, D.C. Wednesday as they blocked traffic and chained themselves to the national office for the Fraternal Order of Police.
A group of about 100 protesters with Black Lives Matter and the Black Youth Project 100 yelled at pedestrians to “Walk around!” a makeshift human blockade Wednesday morning, refusing to allow people to use the sidewalk in front of the Fraternal Order of Police building along Massachusetts Avenue, Fox 5 reports.
“I don’t want to walk around, I want to walk this way,” an elderly white man argued with protesters as he attempted to nudge by them.
VIDEO: Black Lives Matter protestors stop pedestrians from wal…WATCH this exchange between a pedestrian and #BlackLivesMatter and #BYP100 protesters near Union Station in D.C. At this time, police have not made the protesters move and have not made any arrests.
“We see your white privilege!” the protesters screamed. “We see your white privilege!”
“Please don’t put your hands on the people who are standing here, and they won’t put their hands on you,” a hefty black woman in a florescent green hat told the man from behind the human chain.
“Can I walk through?” he asked, as the protesters stood firm, arms out to block his way.
“I’m asking you not to put your hands on the people who are standing here,” the woman said, “and take a walk for white privilege.”
The man shook his head and walked off as the crowd chanted gleefully: “Black lives, they matter here! Black lives, they matter here!”
Some hecklers toted signs that read “Black Lives Matter #stopFOP” and “#StopFOP Wanted for aiding in the murder of black people,” while others shouted relentlessly about white privilege.
The human chain stretched for two blocks, across Third and Fourth streets, and police responded to the scene but did nothing except direct traffic around the protesters.
The “activists” told Fox 5 they were protesting against police brutality and planned to continue to annoy people for 28 hours because that’s how long they allege black criminal Michael Brown laid in the street after he was killed by police in Ferguson, Missouri in 2014.
According to the Washington Post:
At one point, some protesters used chains and large bicycle locks to loosely tie themselves to ladders to try to block an entrance to the national legislative office of the Fraternal Order of Police at 328 Massachusetts Ave. NE.
Some of the protesters shouted, “Commuters, if this is your normal way to work, please go around. The FOP protects killer cops.” Others said to pedestrians, “Use your white privilege to walk around and respect black bodies.” At one point, protesters put up a Black Lives Matter flag atop a flagpole in front of the FOP building.
FOP executive director for D.C. Jim Pasco told the Post the government relations group simply closed the building for the day and “our work will continue from other locations.”
Pasco said he asked D.C. police to arrest protesters who trespassed on the FOP’s private property, but they refused.
Fox5 also confirmed that “officers have not stopped the protesters from blocking traffic nor have they made any arrests …”
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