GREEN BAY, WI (WTAQ-WLUK) – Protests in the wake of the death of George Floyd continued peacefully in downtown Green Bay Tuesday.
And, in action Tuesday night, the Green Bay city council voted 8 to 4 to extend the curfew until the morning of Monday, June 8th. Protests should conclude by 9 p.m., and may begin after 6 a.m.
“I think they should really do their jobs and hold the people accountable,” said Moe White, a Green Bay resident tells FOX 11 he’s not happy with the curfew extension.
“Don’t take it out on everybody else.”
Rallies are continuing more than a week after Floyd died while in police custody in Minneapolis. On Tuesday, the state of Minnesota filed a civil rights charge against the city police department.
With the sun shining a hotter light on their efforts Tuesday, Green Bay protesters decided to head two very different directions with their demonstrations.
First, in front of the Green Bay Police station, was the type of peaceful protest we’ve seen countless times across the country the past few days.
“Keep giving it to them, but don’t give them a reason to injure the people in our community,” one of the speakers told the crowd.
About a mile away, a group that wanted a break from the typical gathering, tried something new to get their message out.
“I think we’re having fun, but I think it’s a form of protest to let people know that no matter how dark stuff might get that we always together,” said White.
White and his friends thought a water fight could be fun and productive at the same time.
“I just think it’s way more better than just out here protesting, smashing windows and stuff like that, setting stuff on fire and stuff like that,” said Dwight Ceoper of Green Bay. “This way we sprayed the cops when they came down here, letting them know we are just having fun, peaceful and this is what the community is about basically.”
The group at the police department preached peace as well.
“We remain peaceful, we don’t break anything, we don’t burn anything down, we’re going to get our message across and we’re going to inspire change all across the world,” said a speaker to the crowd.
The police department protest ended up marching the mile to the water balloon fight, a welcome relief and reunion for two groups fighting the same fight.
“We can’t let immature behavior detract a real nonviolent, non-aggressive protest,” said White while talking about protests that turned violent Sunday night. “That happened and now we’re just trying to erase it all with some water.”
Police were keeping an eye on both groups Tuesday afternoon.
The police department has maintained they are 100 percent supportive of peaceful protests and will 100 percent pursue prosecution for any protesters who commit crimes.
Police say officers are ensuring the safety of all residents, providing water to those participating, and providing traffic control.
In one instance, people say a protester put mulch on the Police Memorial in front of the department so they could stand on top of it and not slip off.
Officers, supervisors, and a citizen help clean up the Police Memorial in front of the Green Bay Police Department after a protester put mulch on it so they could stand on it, June 2, 2020. (Photo courtesy of the Green Bay Police Department)
As soon as the person started this, officers immediately asked him to get down and he complied. Officers, supervisors, and a person attending the event quickly cleaned the memorial to ensure the fallen officers are respected and honored.
In a statement, the Green Bay police department, wrote in part:
“GBPD officers (retired and current) and all officers nationwide take great pride in police memorials. Words can not explain the meaning of this memorial.”
The department says it will always support citizens in their right to assemble, they just ask that they do so peacefully and respectfully.
