BAKERSFIELD, Calif. — For the second night in a row, hundreds gathered in Downtown Bakersfield to protest the death of George Floyd, a black man killed while a Minneapolis Police Department officer knelt on his neck while detaining him.
After a dangerous incident with a speeding vehicle on Friday, officials placed barricades on Truxton Avenue on Saturday afternoon in anticipation of another mass protest in front of Bakersfield Police Department headquarters.
Crowds began to form by about 5 p.m., with dozens of people eventually laying in the middle of the intersection of Truxton and H Street for 9 minutes in honor of Floyd.
BPD says Saturday’s protest was peaceful for several hours, until about 8:45 p.m. When several people began trying to break into BPD headquarters and removed lettering from the front of the building. BPD declaring the gathering an unlawful assembly, and directing the group to disperse, at which point BPD says a protester fired a roman candle firework at an officer. The officer was not injured. A portion of the crowd then moved just outside Mechanics Bank Arena.
BPD says the protesters at Mechanics Bank were mostly peaceful, but one person did vandalize a donor wall.
No arrests were made all night. BPD estimated 100-200 were protesting.
Police ask anyone with information about the assault with fireworks, or vandalization, to contact them at 327-7111.
