Demonstrators protested at the Capitol, through the streets of downtown Austin, outside police headquarters and on I-35 over the weekend, calling for justice in the police killings of unarmed black people.
Organizers called off the official rally shortly before it was due to start Sunday, saying outside agitators were trying to turn their peaceful event violent. That didn’t stop thousands of people from coming out to demand police accountability – particularly for the killings of George Floyd in Minneapolis and Mike Ramos here in Austin.
Here's what the protests looked and sounded like. (Warning: This video contains explicit language.)
Here's a transcription of the voices you hear in these man-on-the-street interviews:
Without violence, you know, that's not the thing. But we just try to promote the powerful black people. You know, we stand for our brothers. No, we're tired of getting killed. It's been happening for years. It's just the fact that everybody has a cell phone to view it with a camera. It's been happening for years. It's about time for this. It's well overdue. It's been 400 years of oppression.
You know, we need to do more than just Facebook about it. We need to let everybody know that we're all awake and paying attention. That's why we all need to be out here.
We would like to see the police defunded. We would like to see them lose their assault weapons. We would like to see them become civil servants. The motto is serve and protect. When is the last time they served you?
This is the most impactful process I've ever seen in this city. I've come and protested for everything.
I mean, the highway block, this is. Crazy. This is crazy, but I'm here for it. You know, we're speaking up. We're having a voice. This is amazing, like seeing all these allies. It's just it's awesome. It's awesome.
We're tired of this shit. The young generation is tired of it. The old generation tells us to be peaceful, pray about it, and that is change. So the young people are fed up. They listen to the elders no more. Only way peace and calm is after war. If they won't see the change they've got to police themselves. They got the good cops that's in there, they need to come together and police the bad cops. From the inside of the police force to the politicians, to the people on the street. Everybody got to take action or the shit ain't never gonna change.
