Protesters gather in downtown Seymour

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A peaceful gathering to protest recent incidents of racial injustice across the country was held Monday afternoon in downtown Seymour and a second is planned for today.

Nationwide, similar protests have been held following the death of George Floyd in Minnesota on May 25. Floyd, an African American man, was arrested by Minneapolis police after a local business reported to them that they believed Floyd to have paid with counterfeit money.

Video of the arrest shows former Minneapolis Police Officer Derek Chauvin using his knee to pin down Floyd by his neck. Floyd died after Chauvin’s knee remained on his neck for more than 8 minutes.

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Chauvin was fired from the Minneapolis Police Department before being arrested and now faces charges of third degree murder and second degree manslaughter.

Many of the protests related to this incident have turned into riots in places like Minneapolis, Indianapolis, New York City, New York, Los Angeles, California, and Atlanta, Georgia, with some police utilizing tear gas and rubber bullets against protesters, while some protesters have taken to looting and destroying local businesses.

Mercedes Seniours, an African American resident of Seymour, organized this protest with the intent of showing demonstrators could still get their message across while maintaining peace.

“With all the riots going on right now, we need something peaceful to show our town is peaceful, our town loves each other. This proves it,” she said. “My people need their representation, like this today. All of these people came out, mostly white, and it’s not about race, but it feels nice to have people on your side.”

Seniours organized the event through a Facebook group Sunday, quickly gaining traction. The group now has more than 300 members in the short time.

“We expected 10 people. We really just expected our close friends to show up, and it turned into a way bigger thing,” she said. “There are 300 people in our Facebook group right now, and we never expected that.”

At least three dozen people showed up to the protest at the Walnut Street Parking lot within an hour of it beginning at noon Monday. Seniours was very happy with the turnout.

”The turnout is amazing compared to what we thought it was going to be,” she said.

Seniours and some of her friends worked with Seymour police to organize the event.

Assistant Police Chief Greg O’Brien said organizers came to them around 8 a.m. Monday looking for protection for their gathering.

O’Brien said organizers specifically cited the death of Floyd, as well as the death of Breonna Taylor, who was shot by police in Louisville, Kentucky, after they entered her home during a narcotics investigation.

O’Brien called what happened in both of these incidents “beyond incomprehensible,” saying he and others within the Seymour Police Department sided with the protesters on these matters.

Police were at the event as a measure of security for the protesters, O’Brien said.{p dir=”ltr”}{span id=”docs-internal-guid-20fe5d06-7fff-478e-d54d-8972cdc4d0c7”}{span id=”docs-internal-guid-20fe5d06-7fff-478e-d54d-8972cdc4d0c7”}“We said we’d provide them security, that we weren’t going to do a show of force down here or anything,” he said.{/span}{/span}{p dir=”ltr”}Among those in attendance were Armando Ramos and his wife, Ginell Ramos.

Armando said his hope is to see the killings of African Americans by police stop and that the Seymour Police Department has a plan in place to address the issue.

After learning SPD has a citizens reviewed board to view any officer misconduct, he felt that was a good start.

“It seems like a good idea,” he said.

Patrick Bishop of Seymour came out to protest and planned to stay all afternoon.

“I just feel like all races need to come together to help stop a major problem going on around the country,” he said.

Pastor Chris Criminger of Vallonia Christian Church said he has felt like he sat back for most of his 58 years and not always been willing to get involved, and now seems like the time to do so.

“It’s getting where the churches, the communities and everybody has to embrace and stand in solidarity with people that are being oppressed, whether it’s the black community or anybody else,” Criminger said. “I pray that God brings peace where there has been violence, and I pray that God brings love where there has been hate.”

Today’s protest will start at noon and continue to 5 p.m. Seniours said she is hoping for those gathering to be able to march around the area while maintaining many aspects of Monday’s protest, like chanting and holding signs. Today’s gathering also will begin at noon in the farmers market parking lot along Walnut Street.

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What: Protest of recent incidents of racial injustice across the country

When: Noon to 5 p.m. today

Where: Walnut Street Parking Lot in Seymour

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