Unrest continues for the second night following Breonna Taylor announcement

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (NewsNation Now) — Unrest continues for the second night after a Kentucky grand jury announced their decision in the March killing of Breonna Taylor.

Just before 9 p.m. ET the Louisville Metro Police declared an unlawful assembly due to protesters breaking windows on 4th Street. LMPD also streamed their police response on Facebook for the second night in a row.

A curfew of 9 p.m. was in place Thursday evening.

About 100 demonstrators have gathered in Louisville, defying a nighttime curfew and nearby police in riot gear, marking a second night of protests in the Breonna Taylor case.

Before the march began, protester Shameka Parrish-Wright told the crowd to stay together and take care of each other if they were met with force.

“We want to show the country and the world what we’re about,” Parrish-Wright said. Some protesters blocked roads as they marched. Police, meanwhile, were seen nearby and patrol cars blocked some roads. There was no immediate signs of a confrontation.

Several dozen demonstrators left the First Unitarian Church around 11 p.m. Thursday after a negotiated end to a tense confrontation. Police who had gathered there with riot gear also pulled back.

Several arrests were made earlier that evening at an intersection outside the church. But there appeared to be no police interference as the protest disbanded.

Demonstrator Nicole Aghaaliandastjerdi said she knew several people taken into custody and believes they were arrested unfairly.

“I am not sad, I am angry,” she said, vowing to return downtown Friday to help her friends get out of jail.

More than 125 people were arrested Wednesday night, Louisville police said.

NewsNation was on the scene of a peaceful Breonna Taylor memorial Thursday evening before curfew.

“I am going to pray no one gets killed or hurt. I am sorry about those officers. That is not part of what I am out here fighting for,” said Rosie Henderson. “They could have been killed. There is too much killing. We need healing and we need prayer and we need to be unified.”

All three Louisville police officers are cleared of all charges directly involved in the killing of Taylor. One of the three police officers was indicted but the indictment was for shooting his gun at Taylor’s neighbor’s apartment.

Two Louisville police officers were shot during Wednesday night’s protests. The Louisville mayor said one officer was released and the other was recovering after surgery. Police charged 26-year-old Larynzo Johnson with shooting the officers.

Politicians called for calm across the country Thursday night after unrest spread from Kentucky to other parts of the country.

Kentucky Governor Andy Beshear, a Democrat, condemned the violence. The governor said President Donald Trump called him Wednesday night to offer federal assistance with protests if needed. He said they both “agreed that at this time we have appropriate levels of law enforcement or peacekeepers there.”

Missouri Governor Mike Parson activated the Missouri National Guard Thursday in a move he said was “precautionary” and a “proactive” step in response to civil unrest across the country.

In St. Louis, protesters marched from a candlelight vigil onto Interstate 64 where they temporarily blocked traffic.

Massachusetts Governor Charlie Baker also signed an order activating 1,000 members of the Massachusetts National Guard.

New York Governor Andrew Cuomo expressed how he felt about the Breonna Taylor case in a coronavirus briefing Thursday saying:

“Breonna Taylor’s death. Breonna Taylor’s death was murder. People were outraged. Yes, because it’s outrageous. If a person was murdered, then there’s a murderer, right? That’s how it works. And, the underlying police action should never have happened in the first place. We at least have to learn from these horrific situations, and God forbid anything like that happened in this state.”

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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