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Photo by Jon Anderson
200530_Hoover_protests_JA
About 200 or so protesters gathered along U.S. 31 next to Hoover City Hall on Saturday, May 30, 2020, to protest the May 25 death of George Floyd, who died after a Minneapolis police officer held his knee on Floyd’s neck for more than eight minutes while restraining him in Minneapolis.
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Photo by Jon Anderson
200530_Hoover_protests_JA
About 200 or so protesters gathered along U.S. 31 next to Hoover City Hall on Saturday, May 30, 2020, to protest the May 25 death of George Floyd, who died after a Minneapolis police officer held his knee on Floyd’s neck for more than eight minutes while restraining him in Minneapolis.
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Photo by Jon Anderson
200530_Hoover_protests_JA
About 200 or so protesters gathered along U.S. 31 next to Hoover City Hall on Saturday, May 30, 2020, to protest the May 25 death of George Floyd, who died after a Minneapolis police officer held his knee on Floyd’s neck for more than eight minutes while restraining him in Minneapolis.
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Photo by Jon Anderson
200530_Hoover_protests_JA
About 200 or so protesters gathered along U.S. 31 next to Hoover City Hall on Saturday, May 30, 2020, to protest the May 25 death of George Floyd, who died after a Minneapolis police officer held his knee on Floyd’s neck for more than eight minutes while restraining him in Minneapolis.
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Photo by Jon Anderson
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The glass on the front door and an interior door was shattered at the Jared jewerly store on an outparcel at the Riverchase Galleria in Hoover, Alabama, on Saturday, May 30, 2020. Groups of protesters gathered at the Galleria, Hoover City Hall and some other Hoover shopping centers to protest the May 25 death of George Floyd, who died after a Minneapolis police officer held his knee on Floyd’s neck for more than eight minutes while restraining him in Minneapolis.
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Photo by Erin Nelson. Starnes Media
Hoover Protests
Local authorities stand in front of a crowd of protesters on U.S. 31 in front of Hoover City Hall to prevent the crowd from blocking traffic on Saturday, May 30, 2020. Photo by Erin Nelson.
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Photo by Jon Anderson
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Hoover police officers try to explain to protesters why they won't let them march along U.S. 31 toward Interstate 459 and the Riverchse Galleria from Hoover City Hall in Hoover, Alabama, on Saturday, May 30, 2020. The people were protesting the May 25 death of George Floyd, who died after a Minneapolis police officer held his knee on Floyd’s neck for more than eight minutes while restraining him in Minneapolis.
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Photo by Jon Anderson
200530_Hoover_protests_JA
About 200 or so protesters gathered along U.S. 31 next to Hoover City Hall on Saturday, May 30, 2020, to protest the May 25 death of George Floyd, who died after a Minneapolis police officer held his knee on Floyd’s neck for more than eight minutes while restraining him in Minneapolis.
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Photo by Jon Anderson
200530_Hoover_protests_JA
About 200 or so protesters gathered along U.S. 31 next to Hoover City Hall on Saturday, May 30, 2020, to protest the May 25 death of George Floyd, who died after a Minneapolis police officer held his knee on Floyd’s neck for more than eight minutes while restraining him in Minneapolis.
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Photo by Erin Nelson. Starnes Media
Hoover Protests
Police vehicles block entrances to Riverchase Galleria on U.S. 31 Saturday, May 30, 2020. Photo by Erin Nelson.
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Photo by Erin Nelson. Starnes Media
Hoover Protests
Protestors hold signs and chant in front of Hoover City Hall on U.S. 31 as local authorities work to prevent the crowd from blocking traffic on Saturday, May 30, 2020. Photo by Erin Nelson.
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Photo by Erin Nelson. Starnes Media
Hoover Protests
Local authorities stand in front of a crowd of protesters on U.S. 31 in front of Hoover City Hall to prevent the crowd from blocking traffic on Saturday, May 30, 2020. Photo by Erin Nelson.
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Photo by Erin Nelson. Starnes Media
Hoover Protests
Spectators look on from the McDonald’s parking lot on U.S. 31 across from Riverchase Galleria as a heavy police presence sparks attention on Saturday, May 30, 2020. Photo by Erin Nelson.
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Photo by Jon Anderson
200530_Hoover_protests_JA
About 200 or so protesters gathered along U.S. 31 next to Hoover City Hall on Saturday, May 30, 2020, to protest the May 25 death of George Floyd, who died after a Minneapolis police officer held his knee on Floyd’s neck for more than eight minutes while restraining him in Minneapolis.
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Photo by Jon Anderson
200530_Hoover_protests_JA
About 200 or so protesters gathered along U.S. 31 next to Hoover City Hall on Saturday, May 30, 2020, to protest the May 25 death of George Floyd, who died after a Minneapolis police officer held his knee on Floyd’s neck for more than eight minutes while restraining him in Minneapolis.
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Photo by Jon Anderson
200530_Hoover_protests_JA
Hoover police stop a group of protesters from marching south on U.S. 31 from Hoover City Hall toward Interstate 459 and the Riverchase Galleria on Saturday, May 30, 2020. About 200 or so protesters gathered along U.S. 31 next to Hoover City Hall to protest the May 25 death of George Floyd, who died after a Minneapolis police officer held his knee on Floyd’s neck for more than eight minutes while restraining him in Minneapolis.
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Photo by Jon Anderson
200530_Hoover_protests_JA
About 200 or so protesters gathered along U.S. 31 next to Hoover City Hall on Saturday, May 30, 2020, to protest the May 25 death of George Floyd, who died after a Minneapolis police officer held his knee on Floyd’s neck for more than eight minutes while restraining him in Minneapolis.
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Photo by Jon Anderson
200530_Hoover_protests_JA
About 200 or so protesters gathered along U.S. 31 next to Hoover City Hall on Saturday, May 30, 2020, to protest the May 25 death of George Floyd, who died after a Minneapolis police officer held his knee on Floyd’s neck for more than eight minutes while restraining him in Minneapolis.
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Photo by Jon Anderson
200530_Hoover_protests_JA
About 200 or so protesters gathered along U.S. 31 next to Hoover City Hall on Saturday, May 30, 2020, to protest the May 25 death of George Floyd, who died after a Minneapolis police officer held his knee on Floyd’s neck for more than eight minutes while restraining him in Minneapolis.
Several hundred protesters came to Hoover City Hall and several Hoover shopping centers Saturday night to protest the death of a 46-year-old black man who died in Minneapolis Monday after a Minneapolis police officer held his knee on the man’s neck for more than eight minutes.
It was one of dozens of protests taking place across the country Saturday as people expressed outrage at what they said was another example of police brutality, especially against black people.
In addition to protests in Minneapolis, other protests erupted in places such as Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, Atlanta, New York and Columbia, South Carolina, according to The Washington Post. Some of those at the protest in Hoover Saturday night said they had just come from a protest march and rally at Kelly Ingram Park in Birmingham.
Initially, the Hoover protest was promoted to be at the Riverchase Galleria. Some protesters showed up outside the Von Maur department store between 7:30 and 7:45 p.m. but were told they had to leave the Galleria campus, which is private property, Hoover City Administrator Allan Rice said.
That’s when a large group of 200 or so people — of various races — assembled along U.S. 31 near Hoover City Hall. Some were blocking parts of the highway and were arrested, police said. Others were directed to get off the highway, so they stood alongside the road with signs, chanting things like “No justice, no peace” and yelling at police for several hours.
Others left City Hall and went to several shopping centers, including the Riverchase Galleria, the Riverchase Promenade directly across U.S. 31 from the Galleria and the Colonial Promenade Hoover shopping center on John Hawkins Parkway, Rice said.
Glass doors at the Jared jewelry store were broken, and a window was busted out at the Von Maur department store. There were no reports of anything being taken from the stores.
Protesters started two small fires in the parking lot of the Riverchase Promenade, one with a shopping cart, Rice said. Police officers put those fires out with fire extinguishers, he said.
At one point, some protesters parked their vehicles on the side of Interstate 459 North, just north of U.S. 31, got out of their vehicles with protest signs and walked onto the interstate, Rice said. Arrest teams and tow trucks were called to the scene.
Throughout the night, 20 people were arrested for various charges, mostly stemming from blocking traffic on U.S. 31, Hoover police Lt. Keith Czeskleba said. The majority of those arrested were charged with disorderly conduct, but some were charged with criminal trespassing and resisting arrest, Czeskleba said. One person was charged with carrying a firearm during a demonstration, he said.
No injuries to any protesters or officers were reported, Czeskleba said.
At one point, there were about 40 or so Hoover police officers on the scene at Hoover City Hall, keeping protesters off the road. Numerous police officers from Pelham and Vestavia Hills and Shelby County sheriff’s deputies came to assist Hoover police in keeping order.
Some protesters tried to march from City Hall toward Interstate 459 and the Riverchase Galleria, but police stopped them when they reached the on-ramp to Interstate 459, saying they could not allow them on the interstate. It was unclear whether the marchers were planning to go on the interstate or toward the Galleria and other shopping centers.
The majority of the crowd at City Hall began to disperse about 10:50 p.m., leaving only a handful of protesters there by 11 p.m.
Daniel Whatley, 21, of Birmingham said people came out to protest Saturday night because they are outraged at police treating people — especially black people — poorly, often without repercussion.
“We just want all of our voices to be heard,” Whatley said. “We just want to be seen.”
Jerryin Medley, 37, of Bessemer said minorities, not just black people, seem to be targeted and treated unfairly by police and the justice system, and he’s tired of it.
Saturday night, he said he was sitting in the parking lot of Riverchase Galleria, watching a TV news report on his phone and was told by police he had to leave or he would be jailed and have his car towed, he said.
“I’m not doing anything violent. I’m not committing any type of crime. I’m just sitting in my car, watching Fox 6 live on my phone, just following the action,” Medley said. “I’m not out here trying to bust out windows. I’m not trying to attack no police cars or property. I’m not trying to cause any damage to anyone, so where’s the purpose of just trying to run people off, even if they are trying to have a peaceful protest?”
He has seen Klansmen have peaceful protests and people with AR-15 semiautomatic rifles storm a state capitol building demanding that the economy be reopened after COVID-19 business shutdowns, “but nobody went to jail” and nobody is complaining they are violent thugs, Medley said. But when minorities do peaceful protests, “we’re labeled as violent; we’re labeled as thugs,” he said.
Jacob Hieftje, a white man from Homewood, said he’s not against all police; he knows they serve and protect the public. But he was outraged to see the way Minneapolis police treated George Floyd, and he doesn’t think it’s an isolated incident.
“They just don’t treat us like we are equal to them,” he said.
His mother, Tosca Hieftje, also of Homewood said she doesn’t blame the police as much as the politicians around the country. “It’s a failure of leadership in our country,” she said. “I never want to see anyone killed on the street for eight minutes anymore. … We want change.”
People need to unite and demand change, she said. “The more we all stay together, the better we’ll be. It’s not us against anybody.”
Kerrick Jordan, who works with the Division of Youth Services for the Birmingham’s mayor’s office, said he came to Hoover Saturday night not so much to protest but to share in the pain that people are feeling, be a light in the darkness and share words of wisdom and encouragement with people who are hurting.
He doesn’t think more protests are needed, he said.
“I feel like the message has already been made. I just don’t feel that any protest is going to make that stronger. The world has gotten the message by now,” Jordan said.
The Minneapolis police officer who put his knee on Floyd's neck was charged with third-degree murder and manslaughter on Friday.
But Jordan said he does hope to see every police officer around the world take people’s lives into consideration. “Our life is just as important as theirs.”
Rice said he was proud of the way Hoover police officers handled themselves Saturday night.
“They allowed First Amendment rights to be exercised, but they didn’t allow people to block roads or destroy property,” he said.
