VIDEO: Melee in Providence Leads to Accusations by BLM RI PAC
GoLocalProv News Team
VIDEO: Melee in Providence Leads to Accusations by BLM RI PAC
When reached Wednesday night, Providence Police Chief Hugh Clements said police are reviewing the fight — and officers’ body camera footage.
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BLM Allegations
On Wednesday, BLM PAC RI released the following statement.
“On Tuesday, June 29 innocent children were assaulted by the Providence Police Department last night. Police responded to a fight that broke out between adult neighbors. Police then began to mace and beat the children without warning. The adults nor any of the children had weapons on them. The police then pulled a gun on at least one of the women who was trying to protect her son,” alleged BLM RI PAC.
“A 9-year-old child lost consciousness after being maced. Both he and a 5-year-old received medical attention after the attack. Two girls and two boys were taken into custody. Three are under the age of 18 and the third girl is 21. All were beaten and maced by the police and have visible marks on their bodies. The 21-year-old was misgendered by police despite onlookers protesting that they were beating a young woman. She was kept in custody overnight and was denied a phone call,” BLM RI PAC continued to allege. “Both girls and one of the boys were held in the back of a hot police van for an hour without air conditioning while struggling to breathe after being maced. The younger girl has asthma. The youth were banging on the doors and requesting that the air be turned on but were ignored.”
“A fourth boy, who is a 14-year-old cancer patient, was beaten by police with a baton while trying to shield the other boy,” alleged BLM RI PAC. “He was then taken into custody and held in a separate police car. Several of the children reported being beaten while trying to protect their parents and each other. As the violence escalated, neighbors came to protest what was happening. There are multiple video recordings of the incident that will be released."
BLM Issues Call to Action
“After an incident like this, if lawmakers do not support defunding the police across Rhode Island, they are actively endorsing the brutal beating and near murder of children. Police are killing our children. We, as a society, are failing our one job: to give our children a better world than we had, because too many kids will never be alive to see it,” said BLM RI PAC Director Harrison Tuttle.
"The thoughts and prayers of the entire Black Lives Matter movement are with the families during this difficult time, but we will stop there," he continued. "Thoughts and prayers don’t replace action and we will continue to fight for change.”