Elected Officials Join Thousands Marching From State Capitol to Monument Avenue

After several days and nights of chaotic demonstrations community leaders, activists and elected officials gathered for a march with a decidedly different tone. Coming just hours after Mayor Stoney’s apology for tear gas deployment at the previous night’s event this crowd gathered outside the barricaded gates of the state capitol.

With the march starting at 6 PM several thousand demonstrators gathered in the streets surrounding the capitol chanting and sharing their frustration with excessive law enforcement responses and racial injustices. Many local elected officials joined in the demonstration including:

• Mayor Levar Stoney
• Lt. Governor Justin Fairfax
• State Senator Jennifer McClellan
• State Senator Ghazala Hashmi
• Delegate Lamont Bagby

By 6:20 PM the march departed west along Broad Street headed towards the Monument Avenue area. By 6:30 PM the front of the crowd reached the Belvidere and Broad intersection with the thousands of participants stretching east almost to the state capitol area in downtown. The march turned south on Belvidere and then moved west on Franklin which would eventually lead them to Monument Avenue.

Around 7 PM the crowds arrived at Lee Circle on Monument Avenue where elected officials addressed them and listened to the frustrations and anger expressed by the demonstrators. Mayor Stoney once more addressed angry demonstrators and promised that what they witnessed the night before would not happen again. Around 7:30 Stoney announced he would have to depart as curfew would go into effect at 8 PM. Some within the crowd were displeased by this departure and demanded that he stay as his presence might provide some safety from a potential police overreaction.

At 7:45 the march is on the move again and heads west to the Jefferson Davis Statue before turning around and returning to the Lee monument. With curfew arriving at 8 PM Lt. Governor Fairfax stayed with the defiant crowd and said he would continue to support the demonstrators in the final night of curfew restrictions.

Around 8:30 PM the demonstrators march North on Allen Avenue towards Broad Street and then they head west just as the sun is setting below the horizon. After reaching Arthur Ashe Boulevard the march turns south and then east again onto Monument. Arriving at the Jefferson Davis Monument toilet paper is thrown across the now heavily vandalized confederate memorial.

By 10 PM the now eastbound march was headed back into downtown via Franklin Street and continued peacefully towards the state capitol.

Around 12:40 AM Richmond Police and demonstrators shared a moment of frustration together with officers kneeling and expressing sadness at the terrible death of George Floyd in Minneapolis. For a few moments this smaller crowd and police engaged in meaningful discussions towards relieving tensions in the streets of Richmond.

While much of the evening was peaceful some dangerous and destructive events did occur late in the evening. Around 1 AM on the 500 Block of West Grace Street gunfire erupted with multiple rounds striking vehicles several blocks from the Richmond Police headquarters. Also in Jackson Ward the restaurant Stumps Pint & Pig had their windows smashed and the restaurant looted.