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Photo credit: Ethan Duran
Frank Nitty is a protest leader who was tackled and arrested by Milwaukee County Sheriff's Department deputies on Tuesday. Here he speaks to a crowd during the march on Wednesday.
A protest march started in Bay View and swept through Milwaukee’s South Side, Downtown, Upper East Side and finally the Harambee neighborhood without any violent confrontation with the police on Wednesday, June 3. “With No Justice, We Walk In Peace” was one of five protests planned for the day to march across the city. Organized by Tommy Franecki and Jeremiah Thomas, the march grew to over a thousand participants and took over the Lincoln Memorial Drive before finally ending outside of the Milwaukee Police Department District 5 station. Marchers walked at least 12 miles for over eight hours.
This has been the fifth night of rallies across Milwaukee demanding justice for the murder of George Floyd, a black man who was killed by four police officers in Minneapolis.
Before the march started, Frank Nitty, a protest leader who was tackled and arrested by Sheriff Department deputies on Tuesday, told rally attendees about his experience while in custody. “[The police] arrested me with excessive force,” said Nitty, with bandages visible on his arm. “Not one time did they ask me to stop, not one time did they say I was under arrest, not one time did they say hey y’all, come here.”
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“I’m not even mad at the police that did that,” said Nitty, “Because we’re not fighting them, we’re fighting the system that orders them to do that.”
Hundreds March
At 3 p.m., the protest left Humboldt Park with about 500 people. They marched through Howell Avenue. and Water Street, being turned away from the Third Ward when the bridge north was lifted. They took a detour to National Avenue and crossed over the 16th Street Bridge. The number of protesters at the march reached an apex when the group merged with another protest on N. 6th Street and W. Wisconsin Avenue.
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Photo credit: Ethan Duran
Peaceful protest makes its way into Downtown.
Some slogans like “Black lives matter” and “I can’t breathe” were chanted as the group walked across Milwaukee. There was some anxiety about the police showing up, but presence of law enforcement was limited.
Twenty cars with protesters stayed ahead of the march, serving as the eyes and ears of the rally and as a barrier between the protesters on foot and any police that might intervene. Some hung signs or dangled their bodies out the windows. Drivers also directed non-protesting traffic away from the march and distributed water when needed. “I like driving better,” said one driver, “It lets me help out more.”
Photo credit: Ethan Duran
Peaceful protest marches on N. Lincoln Memorial Drive
The march reached its climax when over a thousand protesters walked off the E. Mason Street ramp and onto N. Lincoln Memorial Drive. People and cars filled all four lanes of the road, honking and chanting until they marched up to the front of the North Point Pumping Station. On the grass in front of the station, members of the rally took turns speaking their minds into a megaphone.
Photo credit: Ethan Duran
The final stopping point of the march was at Milwaukee Police Department District 5 Headquarters (2920 Vel R. Phillips Ave) in the Harambee neighborhood.
You can see more photos and video of the protest here.
For more of our coverage of the protests occurring across Milwaukee, click here.
