As Saturday night protests raged around a nation seemingly stretched to the breaking point by a global pandemic and political unrest, authorities in Toledo dispatched police across the city to guard against looters, instituted an overnight curfew, and fired tear gas and rubber bullets into masses of citizens.
On the receiving end of such projectiles were demonstrators who joined like-minded individuals across the country in protesting the death of George Floyd while in the custody of Minneapolis police.
Lifelong Toledoan Pat Coleman, 82, was among those who participated in Saturday’s demonstrations. She attended a largely peaceful rally held early in the day in West Toledo. She said she was proud to see the large, diverse, peaceful crowd Saturday afternoon.
“We are at a critical point in this country now,” Ms. Coleman said. “The younger generation has to do a better job than we have done on racism.”
She said people need to take active roles in creating change.
“It can’t be done in a day. It can’t be done in a year,” she said. “We have to really love one another, and act it out and not sit at home and say ‘yes’ and then not do anything about it.”
Toledo Mayor Wade Kapszukiewicz, speaking during an 11 p.m. news conference, offered his thoughts on the situation unfolding in Toledo and around the country.
“There are people in our county and our city who are hurting,” he said. “They are in pain. They are angry and scared because they believe that a number of the institutions that govern American life — judicial systems, economic systems, government structures — are tilted against them in an unjust and unfair way. These feelings have built over years. They certainly did not begin with the terrible events in Minneapolis on Monday.”
Mr. Kapszukiewicz said such feelings are real, raw, and legitimate He said he supported the protests that occurred Saturday, but he admonished those responsible for the chaos and violence that followed. He said he was aware of confirmed injuries to three individuals — two protesters and one police officer — and at least 10 people were arrested. The three injuries do not include those hurt by rubber bullets, tear gas, and similar items.
The mayor added that he was aware of and concerned about reports of officers using excessive force.
Toledo’s Safety Building served as a central point of the tense showdown between authorities and demonstrators protesting both the death of Mr. Floyd, and widespread police violence against minority communities.
The building, headquarters for Toledo police and located a short distance from the Lucas County Common Pleas court and the administrative offices of the county and city, was an obvious place to stage the area’s largest peaceful rally Saturday afternoon.
Chaos now in front of police headquarters. Protesters throwing bottles at police turns into tear gas and rubber bullets shot. Whole downtown area dispersed. pic.twitter.com/ZXZ4A6Chni
— Brooks Sutherland ⚔️ (@bsutherlt) May 30, 2020
It was also the most obvious place for protesters to return to Saturday even after scattered crowds of demonstrators clashed with police who tried to control the situation with tear gas, paintballs, and similar means.
Tension rose as the sun set, and more and more people began to gather. The scene there had turned ugly by 7:30 pm as protesters hurled water bottles, smoke bombs, and insults at officers, who surrounded the Safety Building.
The officers, in turn, hurled back tear gas canisters and fired rubber bullets to disperse the crowd.
“Shoot me! I dare you! Shoot me!” one woman yelled at the police line.
The 9 p.m. curfew instituted Saturday evening applied to an area around the Safety Building and bounded by Summit Street, Monroe Street, 17th Street, Franklin Avenue, East Woodruff Avenue, and Cherry Street, city officials said in a news release.
“No one is to be out in that area during these hours unless absolutely necessary, such as an emergency that includes traveling to and from a hospital for a health emergency,” the release said.
The curfew remains in place until 6 a.m. Sunday.
With the 9 p.m. curfew approaching, police worked to push the crowd away from the Safety Building as individuals drove vehicles onto the nearby courthouse lawn. At least one person was taken from the scene on a stretcher.
Once the curfew started, officers used a wave of tear gas canisters to renew the push to clear the courthouse and Safety Building area of protesters. Some headed south and smashed glass at several downtown buildings.
Lt. Kellie Lenhardt, spokesman for TPD, said multiple buildings downtown were vandalized, including the Lucas County Courthouse, the Huntington Center, the Ohio Building, and a bank. A number of cars were also damaged.
Troopers from the Ohio State Highway Patrol assisted the department downtown, she said.
She could not say if there was any singular, identifiable incident that triggered the ongoing violence.
“Unfortunately, agitators in the crowd changed the focus of the peaceful protest,” she said, speaking through a gas mask.
Chief George Kral has been present throughout the day, as has the department’s mobile field force — a unit that specializes in crowd control. Lieutenant Lenhardt said police are prepared for the unrest to continue in other parts of the city as downtown is cleared during the city curfew.
“We’re prepared for it, but we were hoping it doesn’t happen,” she said.
By 11 p.m. dispatchers were sending police units to lock down the entrances to Franklin Park Mall and several big-box retailers throughout the city.
WARNING: Video below may contain inappropriate language at times.
As such scenes played out, those involved in the demonstrations took to social media to post their own accounts of the clashes. On Twitter they reported police were firing wooden cylindrical projectiles at crowds, bloodying those hit. Those reports could not be confirmed.
The protests in Toledo started Saturday with a peaceful demonstration in a heavily trafficked West Toledo commercial corridor.
The biggest planned protest of the day, organized by the Community Solidarity Response Network, started at the Safety Building in the early afternoon. A crowd of hundreds of locals of all ages and ethnicities gathered there and decried the death of Mr. Floyd, as well as many other black men and women who have fallen victim to death by law enforcement.
Chants of “no justice, no peace, no racist police,” “Black Lives Matter,” and “I cannot breathe” rang off the front of the building. Through the chants, CSRN representatives made it clear that their mission was to protest rather than violently riot.
“We’re not here to destroy the city we live in because of injustice,” Jodie Summers, a group member said.
Mr. Kapszukiewicz said the organized protests earlier in the day symbolized the unity of Toledo as diverse crowds rallied in solidarity of the local black community.
“It’s important to point out how many white people are here, and I don’t know if people will take that the wrong way, I hope they don’t. One of the takeaways I’ve seen from both rallies is this is an issue that troubles all Americans and all Toledoans. I think that’s a story that should be told also. These are diverse crowds that are not exclusively African American.” He added that both protests speak to a larger story being told nationally.
But violence and vandalism followed the peaceful gathering.
Law enforcement continues to tear gas @toledonews pic.twitter.com/UD0D204Vf4
— BW🏁 (@WORDSMITHBRI) May 31, 2020
Protesters began to chant “hell no, we won’t go” and marched north on Erie Street heading toward Cherry. Groups of people spontaneously moved to other locations nearby, including the area near Bancroft and Cherry Street, and the area near 17th and Adams.
Demonstrators linked arms at Erie and Spielbusch, blocking traffic and defying police. Nearby, those who had been on the receiving end of the officers’ dispersal attempts rinsed their eyes with milk and water.
A police car and police union hall were vandalized, protesters threw rocks and bottles, and car horns blared throughout city streets.
By 6:20 p.m. at least some demonstrators appeared to be headed back to the Safety Building, where tension continued to escalate. Mr. Kapszukiewicz told The Blade that the situation in Toledo appeared to be unfolding in the “same exact pattern” as it has in other American cities. Peaceful, organized protests ended and the situation devolved as the crowd split up.
The entire roster of available Toledo officers was called to duty, Mayor Kapszukiewicz said. Other agencies were also providing some manner of support but he couldn’t say in what ways, whether that was sending officers and/or equipment to deal with protesters or to backfill and help cover other emergency calls.
Protesters block Cherry St. TPD not on the site. @toledonews pic.twitter.com/WWbfznqQwd
— Amy E Voigt ⚔️ (@AmyEVoigt) May 30, 2020
WARNING: Video below may contain inappropriate language at times.
The first local protest took place at noon near Secor Road and Central Avenue. By 12:15 p.m., several demonstrators lined the sidewalk along the busy commercial thoroughfare in West Toledo. Similar scenes unfolded in cities across the country. Officials in Columbus declared a state of emergency. Later Gov. Mike DeWine dispatched National Guard attachments to both Columbus and Cleveland.
WARNING: Video below may contain inappropriate language at times.
Julian Mack, a local Black Lives Matter leader and activist, said protesters are attempting to send a message that police have too much power and need to be held accountable for their actions.
“There needs to be a systemic change of power from police back to the people, because police serve the people,” he said.
“We have to have accountability in order to have anything that resembles law and order,” he continued, referencing the recent retirement of a Toledo police officer while under investigation for alleged drug use.
WARNING: Video below contains inappropriate language at times.
Mr. Mack said he would like the Toledo Police Department to ban choke holds, create a citizen review board, and pour additional resources into community programs vs. incarceration.
A City of Toledo spokesman said choke holds are already banned by the Toledo Police Department.
Toledo police placed a mobile SkyCop camera at Secor and Central in the parking lot of a nearby business, but police presence otherwise seemed limited primarily to clearing individual protesters from blocking traffic. Many participants wore masks and held signs. Some stood with their fists raised into the air or held American flags turned upside-down — a traditional symbol for distress. A cacophony of honking car horns provided an almost continuous backdrop of noise to protesters’ cheers and chants.
Carlos Rodriguez held a sign reading, “If you’re not angry, you’re not paying attention.”
“People that remain ignorant about these issues don’t seem to care about any of it; it’s not affecting them,” he said. “But when you actually immerse yourself into what’s happening, it really means a lot. It’s a big deal.”
Saturday afternoon’s second protest unfolded outside the Safety Building. Barricades surrounded the police station as a huge crowd gathered.
“It’s time to stop asking for permission to speak,” Brother Washington Muhammad said. “Stop asking for permission to defend our community, to defend our women, to defend our children. Police have a duty to protect us, not terrorize us.”
The unrest in Toledo comes after the city was quiet Friday, a day when protests unfolded throughout the country. Many were peaceful, but others involved clashes with the police. Protesters burned businesses in Minneapolis. They smashed police cars and windows in Atlanta, broke into police headquarters in Portland, Oregon, and chanted curses at President Trump outside the White House. Thousands also demonstrated peacefully, demanding justice for Mr. Floyd, a black man who died after a white officer pressed a knee into his neck.
Staff writers Brooks Sutherland and Alexandra Mester contributed and Blade news services contributed.
First Published May 30, 2020, 4:20 p.m.
