Within a half hour of the start of the event, the protest grew tense, with the crowd facing off against a line of police officers that had formed on the next block, with several police vehicles positioned behind them.
“Whose streets? Our streets!” the crowd chanted as it moved to meet the police line.
On the front line, talking to police, stood 72-year-old Janet Militello.
“I saw all of the cops lined up with all of their trucks and I told them, ‘Move away, you’re going to incite the crowd, nobody’s even noticed you down here yet,’ and that’s exactly what happened,” Militello said. “This is a shame. The police are so afraid of something happening, and they’re going to make it happen.”
The two sides stood just a few feet apart and around 7:30 p.m. the police declared an unlawful assembly and ordered the crowd to disperse.
Many did leave at that time, but others chose to stay and lock arms, chanting “Who do you protect? Who do you serve?”
One person standing among the protesters’ front line shouted, “Show no fear! Show no fear!” over and over.
The police began advancing, in some cases shoving people backward or prodding them with batons. At least one bottle and the metal base of a barricade were hurled toward officers.
Protesters continued moving backward and police periodically stopped, only to advance again.
After being pushed back two blocks, protesters turned away from police just after 8 p.m. and moved south toward Market Street to reunite with a group that had split off earlier in the evening.
The crowd walked down Market toward the Ferry Building, then back up.
