Hundreds Take Part In George Floyd Protests In Anaheim, Other OC Cities; Man Arrested After Allegedly Driving Into Crowd
SANTA ANA (CBSLA) – One man was arrested after allegedly driving his vehicle into a crowd of protesters at one of several demonstrations held Wednesday in Orange County in response to the death of George Floyd last week at the hands of Minneapolis police.
According to police, a man allegedly drove his Mini Cooper into a crowd of protesters near the Newport Beach Pier striking three or four people, though no serious injuries were reported. The man was taken into custody on suspicion of assault with a deadly weapon.
The first of the protests started just before noon with roughly 500 protesters peacefully marching around Anaheim, Police Sgt. Shane Carringer said.
"It's completely peaceful," Carringer said. "We've had great communication with organizers of the protests and they've actually shorted their march route to accommodate the size of the protest, so we're giving them traffic control to give them the route they want."
Protesters marched from the Westbound Center Street Promenade, to Harbor Boulevard and Lincoln Avenue, to Anaheim Boulevard and then to City Hall, Carringer said.
Peaceful protest going on in Anaheim in front of city hall right now. A couple hundred people sitting and standing at the steps of city hall listening to several speakers tell their personal stories @CBSLA @KCBSKCALDesk pic.twitter.com/x7V6mNXZkq
— Chris Ercoli (@CErcoliCBS2KCAL) June 3, 2020
The vast majority of the crowd had dispersed by 2 p.m, leaving a "vocal but peaceful" group of about 60 to 80 protesters, Carringer said.
A protest in Rancho Santa Margarita drew about 100 people, said Carrie Braun, a spokeswoman for the Orange County Sheriff's Department.
There were several Black Lives Matters protests slated for Newport Beach, Garden Grove and Irvine.
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While L.A. County has seen considerably more activity since the protesting ramped up over the weekend, several O.C. cities have also been under mandatory curfew orders. On Saturday night, hundreds of protests gathered in Santa Ana, with some throwing mortars, rocks and bottles at police.
For complete coverage of the situation in Minneapolis visit CBSMinnesota.com and stream CBSN Minnesota.