Demonstrators & Police Clash At Lee Circle After Paintball Fired at Law Enforcement Officers

A heated week of clashes between occupying demonstrators and police on Monument Avenue ended with another confrontation on Friday night at Lee Circle. The week started off with directives from the Department of General Services that the grounds of the Robert E. Lee statue would close at sunset along with a set of regulations governing behavior on the state owned property.

The night started off with police issuing a reminder on social media that the grounds of the Lee monument would close shortly after sunset and that visitors should depart the property. Despite this guidance defiant protesters stayed on the grounds leading to a law enforcement task force to arrive around 10 PM to dispatch the crowds from the property.

A convoy of more than a dozen Virginia Capitol Police and Virginia State Police vehicles approached Lee Circle from the east on Monument at 10 PM. Roughly 100 riot gear equipped officers were observed in the approaching convoy as they passed Stuart Circle.

Once on the scene Virginia State Police Report that around 100 protesters departed the monument grounds as police occupied the area around the statue. Around 10:10 PM an individual around the outside of the circle launched pyrotechnics towards law enforcement in the circle. Events escalated further a few moments later when a juvenile outside the monument grounds fired a paintball weapon and struck four officers.

Around 10:20 PM law enforcement deploys tear gas and flash bangs to disperse the rowdy crowd that gathered on the southern intersection with Allen Avenue. Shortly afterwards an unlawful assembly is declared and police work to actively disperse the crowds.

By 10:34 PM police advanced south from Lee Circle towards the confrontational crowd in the median of Allen Avenue eventually arresting six individuals.

In a statement police reported several injuries to law enforcement personnel:

• Four Richmond Police Officers and One Virginia State Police Trooper Struck By Paintballs
• One Richmond Police Officer Struck By Blunt Object & Transported to VCU Medical Center for Treatment
• One Richmond Police Officer Struck In The Neck By Unknown Hard Object

In addition six arrests were made on a number of charges:

• Three Adults Arrested For Unlawful Assembly Violations
• One Adult Arrested For Unlawful Assembly & Obstruction of Justice
• One Adult Arrested For Trespassing & Obstruction of Justice
• One Juvenile Arrested for Unlawful Assembly, Obstruction of Justice & Assaulting a Police Officer