PROVIDENCE, R.I. (AP) — Protesters planned to gather in downtown Providence on Friday to denounce police brutality against people of color.
Black Lives Matter organized a demonstration for 4:30 p.m. on Kennedy Plaza in the heart of Rhode Island’s capital, where a weeklong nighttime curfew has been imposed after violence in and near the Providence Place mall earlier this week.
Churches announced plans to participate, urging parishioners to wear masks, dress in black and demonstrate peacefully and prayerfully.
Hundreds of people gathered near the mall late Monday night, and early Tuesday morning went on a destructive rampage. Authorities have said it was not a protest of the killing of George Floyd at the hands of a white police officer in Minneapolis, but a coordinated attack by what they called a “mob.”
More than 60 people were arrested and several police officers suffered minor injuries.
(Copyright (c) 2024 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.)