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Black Liberation Activists Storm and Take Over City Hall

by | Jun 15, 2021 | Opinion, State Politics

Black liberation protestors gathered yesterday to advocate for the complete abolition of The Des Moines Police Department. With this demand also came calls for the ‘decriminalization of Cannabis,’ the termination of all racists, and against a travel fund for an officer to receive training in Orlando. Other activists talked about the recent evictions In Des Moines that need to be stopped.

The alleged racists mentioned at the protest included Des Moines Police Chief Dana Wingert and City manager Scott Sanders, where activists screamed,” We need them to lose their jobs.”

“We don’t want them in our communities,” said a protester into a microphone about police officers in Des Moines.

After protestors had a prep rally outside of city hall, all of them lined up to be screened through security. During the screening process, some activists handed out noisemakers to others.

Protestors were eventually separated into two groups, where speakers were sent to the chambers, and non-speakers were sent to the viewing room on the 2nd floor of City Hall.

When all of those in attendance were situated, discussions ensued in the chambers by activists after opening remarks from some council members.

Despite the meeting being broadcasted to the viewing room, it was incomprehensible from the chanting of activists in the viewing room.

 

After a few brief statements from some protestors in the chambers, suddenly, the chambers erupted into screaming and chanting as protestors began to wave their “DEFUND DMPD” flag in front of the council member’s faces.

The sudden outburst caused the council members to initiate a 5-minute recess.

After the break, activists continued to scream and interrupt the council members who tried to talk over the noise.

Abruptly, protestors in the viewing area then began to rush towards and break the line of the few firefighters that separated the viewing room and the chambers.

The next course of an hour in the chambers consisted of profanity-laced language and middle fingers directed at the council members, particularly City Manager Scott Sanders.

At one point, as one protestor stood on a chair, he confronted Scott Sanders telling them that “this is all of your fault, you did this,” all the while asking if Sanders was ‘uncomfortable,’ with everything that transpired.

After failing to calm the crowd down, all council members gave up and left the meeting.

After council members left, protestors gave victory and campaign speeches to those left in attendance, where one activist proudly shouted,” I’m about to beat up their friends for money.”

Another shouted,” The City Council is the biggest threat to Des Moines.”

Mayor Frank Cownie released a statement about the evening, stating,

“It is frustrating and disappointing to see the actions displayed Monday night in our City Council chamber. Because of the Disruptive and alarming behavior exhibited toward Council and City Staff, we had no choice but to recess our meeting. It will be conducted Wednesday morning at 7:30 via the Zoom Network.”