Protesters decrying police brutality marched up and down the Las Vegas Strip for more than three hours Saturday night. They enthusiastically chanted “Black Lives Matter,” “Justice for Jorge Gomez,” and “Defund the police!”
And despite news reports saying “anarchists” were coming to the Strip, the group of about 100 marched peacefully, followed pedestrian laws and stayed out of trouble.
Metro Lt. Frank Humel estimated the crowd at 120 protesters and called it a “peaceful event.” It started and ended in front of the Bellagio fountains.
Protest organizer Zyera Dorsey labeled the march as the “Las Vegas community standing for Jorge (Gomez),” a protester who was killed June 1 by Metro officers during a demonstration calling for police reform following the in-custody death of George Floyd by Minnesota police. Metro Officer Shay Mikalonis was shot and paralyzed in an unrelated shooting June 1.
Millions of protesters have hit U.S. streets since late May, after Floyd died under the knee of a Minneapolis police officer as he pleaded that he couldn’t breathe, sparking a movement that hasn’t let down.
The Las Vegas group also paid homage to demonstrators in Portland, Ore., where there have been nightly protests for almost two months, albeit with reports of property damage and violent confrontations with police.
The Portland protests drew national attention amid reports of the recent involvement of federal agents, some of whom have purportedly picked up demonstrators with unmarked vehicles in the streets.
Saturday’s Strip protest began shortly after 7 p.m. The participants, many holding signs with messages of the movement, walked north and south on Las Vegas Boulevard sidewalks past 10 p.m. With megaphones, Dorsey and other organizers instructed the group to stop at do-not-walk crossings and to allow tourists to move by.
They also yelled the names of Tashii Brown and Byron Williams, both of whom died in Metro custody, and Breonna Taylor, who was shot and killed by Louisville police during a no-knock warrant earlier this year.
The only tense moment came when a car passenger waved a Donald Trump campaign flag and shouted obscenities at the participants. The driver sped through a red light when a man approached the car.
At one point, a protester flashed her phone and said Gomez’s mother, Jeanne Llera, was on the other side of the camera. The group joined in a “Justice for Jorge” chant.
Metro contends that Gomez, who was armed with multiple guns, was shot by officers after he raised a long gun at them. Gomez was running away from Lloyd George Federal Courthouse, where an officer hit him with bean bag rounds in an effort to make him disperse, police said.
His family, who earlier this week announced they were filing a federal lawsuit against Metro, the officers who shot Gomez, and unnamed officers, say Gomez was simply walking to his car when he was harassed by the officers at the courthouse steps after the demonstration was declared illegal. The officers who shot him weren’t wearing body-cameras, and the Gomez family, their lawyers and demonstrators have demanded police release additional footage from the fatal confrontation.
Along the march Saturday, some protesters handed out water, and volunteer legal observers jotted down notes. Some tourists joined the rally, raising their fists — and alcoholic beverages — in support.
At the end of the demonstration late Saturday, Dorsey instructed participants to walk together back to their cars and said, “we’re doing it again real soon.”