A Cleveland cop pepper-sprayed a crowd of screaming men, women, and children attending the first national Black Lives Matter conference in Ohio on Sunday, just a day after the funeral of Sandra Bland, a black woman whose death in police custody sparked national outrage about the police’s extrajudicial killings of African-Americans.
The Huffington Post reports the cop’s assault on the attendees of the Black Lives Matters conference began after police violently handcuffed a black teenager who was allegedly intoxicated.
Conference attendees protested the arrest of the youth by locking arms and creating a human chain, chanting for the police to take the handcuffs off the boy.
Police responded to the protest by pepper-spraying indiscriminately into the crowd of men, women, and children. A video uploaded on the social media site Twitter shows a white police officer using pepper-spray on conference attendees, as members of the crowd scream out in pain, shock and anger.
WATCH: This is the officer who sprayed #M4BL attendees with pepper spray. pic.twitter.com/vWtBLiB7Um
— Tyree Boyd-Pates (@TyreeBP)
July 26, 2015
This incident comes just a day after the funeral of Sandra Bland, a vocal young anti-racist and anti-police-brutality activist from Chicago, who was found dead in a Texas jail cell earlier on July 13.
Bland’s funeral, held at DuPage AME church in Lisle, Illinois, was attended by hundreds.
“Today we are gathered here to celebrate the life of this beautiful young lady who joins a list of martyrs,” the pastor of the church, James Miller said, according to The Guardian.
The activist was stopped by a white police officer for a minor traffic stop but was then violently arrested without being given a reason why after Texas Trooper Brian Encinia demanded Bland put out a cigarette she was smoking in her own vehicle.
Witnesses said they saw police slamming Bland’s head on the dirt as they aggressively tossed her to the ground, using their knees to restrain her neck. A video of the arrest filmed by a bystander showed Bland telling the officer she is unable to hear, in pain, and losing feeling in her arms as they sit on her.
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The official narrative has concluded that Bland committed suicide in jail, but Bland’s family and many in the African-American and activist communities question the story given by authorities, after a tumultuous year of police violence against African-Americans and other people of color.
The case has riled up many in the United States, who view Sandra Bland’s death as evidence that the policing and judicial system do not care for Black lives in America.
On Sunday, Attorney General Loretta Lynch, the first African-American women to serve in the position, told ABC News that Sandra Bland’s suspicious death “highlights the concern of many in the black community that a routine stop for many members of the black community is not handled with the same professionalism and courtesy that other people may get from the police."
Also on Sunday, hundreds of protesters marched on the streets of Newark, New Jersey, demonstrating against police brutality and racial injustice.
Protesters waved signs with slogans such as: “Stop Racist Violence,” and “Black Lives Matter,” Russia Today reported.
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Larry Hamm, a social justice activist and People’s Organization for Progress Chairman, listed demands of the protesters at the rally.
“We want an end to police violation of constitutional rights. We want an end to police murder and torture and terror. We are not going to be paralyzed with fear. We are going to fight back every day of our lives. …This is not just a depression. It’s a criminal act of economic oppression,” he said.