Protesters in Charlotte have released a list of demands they say must be met before they allow the city to return to peace and quiet.
Although Friday and Saturday saw a return to some semblance of order — thanks to push-back from Charlotte’s police department, and a curfew designed to prevent the type of violence seen earlier in the week – the “CharLIT Uprising,” as it’s now known, says that the “damage is done” and that the city will remain in a “state of emergency” until their demands are met.
It’s quite a wish-list. Among the requests: a complete “demilitarization” of the Charlotte-Mecklenberg Police force (including the “immediate return of all military equipment”; “defunding” the CMPD’s $250 million budget; a citizen oversight board from “communities most impacted by policing and incarceration” that can fire officers; and reparations for Keith L. Scott’s family “as well as the families of those who have been killed.”
The protesters want the police department’s funding diverted to pay for quality affordable housing and “holistic health” among other wish-list items.
Protesters also demand an abdication of officers’ Fourth and Fifth Amendment rights, the unqualified release of any jailed protesters, and an “end to the repression.” They’re zero for ten so far, unless they count the police department’s release Saturday of the shooting video.
The protesters also have a convenient spin on events in their “news” section, writing that the civilians wounded by gunfire on the first and second night of the protests were shot by police. They also fail to acknowledge any responsibility for the violence which dominated headlines across the nation earlier in the week, and caused even season reporters to run for the airport.
Protests, of course, have gotten more organized since Thursday, with demonstrators using the hashtag #CharLIT to capture themselves on Periscope and broadcast on Twitter…
LIVE on #Periscope: #CharLit https://t.co/GbiTBzMNJt
— Baltimore BLOC (@BmoreBloc) September 24, 2016
…and to capture photos of the National Guard, called in to keep the peace after sections of Charlotte were burned and looted. The protesters, by the way, are demanding the exit of the National Guard and raising of the curfew, immediately.
Check this periscope for an update of whats happening now https://t.co/Kq0Ue8MdKC #Charlit #CharlotteUprising
— Sophistiratchet (@YoungElla_Baker) September 25, 2016
Unfortunately, fans of the Charlotte Hornets NBA team also use the #CharLIT hashtag, so information from the protests is sporadic, and cut between team news.
