Police line up in downtown Austin on Sunday during protests over police violence against black people.
Michael Minasi / KUT

Activists And Protesters Call For Cuts To Police Department Budget

In addition to talking about police accountability and the dangers protesters face in the streets, the Austin Justice Coalition discussed Tuesday the idea of cutting police department budgets.

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A server wearing a mask stands next to a table of maskless customers.
Gabriel C. Pérez / KUT

PHOTOS: Life In Austin During The Coronavirus Pandemic

KUT's photographers are documenting the changes to daily life that a pandemic has brought to the Austin area — from a safe distance.

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a police car
Thomas Hawk/Flickr (CC BY-NC 2.0)

From Texas Standard:

Much of the anger in the wake of George Floyd's death has been aimed at Derek Chauvin, the Minneapolis police officer accused of killing him. But Chauvin wasn't the only officer there. Why, many have asked, didn't the three other officers on the scene stop him or help Floyd?

A mobile coronavirus testing site off I-35 in North Austin.
Michael Minasi / KUT

Austin Public Health says it’s going to launch mobile COVID-19 testing sites in Austin and Travis County to target populations that are disproportionately impacted by the virus. 

Gabriel C. Pérez/KUT

From Texas Standard:

President Donald Trump said in an address to the nation Monday that he has “strongly recommended” that governors deploy the National Guard in response to actions including “rioting and looting."

Trump went on to say, “If a city or state refuses to take the actions that are necessary to defend the life and property of their residents, then I will deploy the United States military and quickly solve the problem for them.”

Protesters gather in downtown Austin on Sunday demanding justice for black people killed by police.
Jorge Sanhueza-Lyon / KUT

Gov. Greg Abbott said Tuesday that Texas won’t be asking U.S. military to come into the state in response to protests.

“We know that Texans can take care of Texans,” he said at a news conference in Dallas. “We have tremendous police forces in Dallas, in Fort Worth, in the surrounding suburbs, across the entire state.”

Chas Moore, founder and executive director of the racial justice group the Austin Justice Coalition, speaks to a crowd at the Capitol on Sunday during a rally protesting police violence against black people.
Jorge Sanhueza-Lyon / KUT

Thousands of protesters marched through the streets in and around downtown Austin over the weekend – demanding an end to police violence against black people. The death of George Floyd, an unarmed black man who was killed by police in Minneapolis, sparked protests here and across the country. But protests in Austin were also demanding justice for Mike Ramos – an unarmed black and Hispanic man killed by an Austin Police officer in April. 

Updated at 11:46 a.m. ET

Former Vice President Joe Biden condemned both police violence and President Trump's increasingly confrontational response to widespread unrest in a Tuesday morning speech delivered at Philadelphia City Hall.

People gathered at the Capitol on Sunday to protest police killings of unarmed black people.
Michael Minasi / KUT

Chas Moore, executive director of the Austin Justice Coalition, says he doesn’t condone or criticize protesters’ actions in Austin over the weekend. 

Updated at 9:31 p.m. ET

Escalating his rhetoric during a period of roiling national crises, President Trump on Monday threatened to deploy the U.S. military to cities or states that don't take "necessary" actions to halt violent protests, saying the armed forces will "quickly solve the problem for them."

Trump's Rose Garden remarks came as just across the street, law enforcement officers deployed tear gas and shot rubber bullets to forcefully disperse peaceful protesters. Washington, D.C., had set a curfew Monday of 7 p.m. ET.

A line of Austin Police officers block the front of police headquarters Sunday as thousands protest in the street.
Michael Minasi / KUT

A 20-year-old black man is hospitalized in critical condition after police shot him with beanbag rounds outside police headquarters Sunday night, Austin Police Chief Brian Manley said Monday.

Updated at 5:45 p.m. ET

President Trump on Monday called governors weak and urged them to "dominate" to prevent further violent demonstrations following the death of George Floyd, a black man in Minneapolis who died after a white police officer kneeled on his neck.

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Hundreds of John L. Hanson's interviews have been restored and digitized thanks to a grant from Recordings at Risk.