Update 6/1:
Protests over police violence took place Sunday despite the formal cancellation of the event. Protesters shut down I-35, and police used tear gas and rubber bullets.
Late in the afternoon, Michael Ramos' mother, Brenda, spoke at a press conference outside her apartment complex.
"Why is Officer [Christopher] Taylor still drawing a paycheck from us, the citizens of Austin?" she asked, pulling down her mask so she could speak. "Why are we paying his salary when he murdered my son over a month ago and he murdered someone else's son over 10 months ago? Why isn't he in jail?"
5/31:
Despite the formal cancelation of Sunday's protest at the Texas State Capitol, hundreds of people gathered along 11th Street and marched to Austin City Hall and back. Some shut down I-35 for the second day in a row, and Austin police used tear gas and beanbag rounds in an effort to move people off the roadway.
Tear gas and rubber bullets get shot to disperse crowd from highway. https://t.co/ffchePzSKV— Thee Environmental Reportréss (@Thee Environmental Reportréss)1590959385.0
The police form a line on Cesar Chavez, stopping demonstrators marching from City Hall. s3.amazonaws.com
Police allow protestors to turn north on San Antonio toward Republic Square. s3.amazonaws.com
Update 5/31 11:21 a.m.:
Chas Moore, executive director of the Austin Justice Coalition, announced on Facebook live that the organization would cancel the protest planned for Sunday at the Texas State Capitol.
"We are supposed to be out demonstrating, peacefully protesting the need for safety and for freedom and liberation for black people," Moore said. "And when I look at what's going on in Austin, when I look at the mess that happened last night, I look at white people burning stuff up in the name of Black Lives Matter and there's little to no black lives at these events."
Police used rubber bullets and pepper spray during Saturday's protest, which ended with reports of fires and looting. Nineteen people were arrested, the Austin American-Statesman reports.
Demonstrations took place on Friday night and Saturday in several major Texas cities as well as across the U.S.
Gov. Greg Abbott declared a state of emergency on Sunday in response to the protests.
Update 5/31 11:10 a.m.
Another protest is planned for the Texas State Capitol grounds on Sunday, with organizers calling for peaceful demonstrations.
Planned protests yesterday ended in clashes between police and protesters as well as reports of fires and looting.
Austin Police Department officers will be working 12-hour shifts for the indefinite future, the CBS Austin reports, and all have been called into work.
Mayor Steve Adler said in an emailed statement sent Sunday morning that he would not attend the protest. "I want to stand with others to recognize that only a 'just' city is a safe one," he wrote. "I also know that especially large gatherings still present great risk of spreading the virus in ways that would be hard to tract, isolate and control."
Update 5/30 11:28 p.m.
Fires and looting were reported on social media and in news outlets downtown Saturday night after a long day of protest in Austin and around the state.
Target said it would temporarily close some stores nationwide, including at least three in Austin.
Update 5/30 6:33 p.m.: Police and protesters clashed on Saturday as a demonstration against the killings of George Floyd and Michael Ramos wore on, according to reports.
The protest wound around the city over the course of the day, with demonstrators blocking I-35 at times and police using rubber bullets and pepper spray.
Original: Protesters in downtown Austin blocked traffic on I-35 in a demonstration over the killings of George Floyd by a Minneapolis police officer and Michael Ramos by Austin police last month.
The protest started with hundreds outside the Austin police headquarters, moved to the highway and grew even larger as it made its way to the Texas State Capitol.
#austin #MikeRamos Hundreds more protestors coming from the west on 8th street. https://t.co/RojNptRldx— austonia (@austonia)1590864321.0
#austin #MikeRamos Clearing damp w horses https://t.co/YmGcau2ut2— austonia (@austonia)1590863203.0
Crowd@moving south I35 both lanes. Southbound lane clear of cars Northbound cars slowly moving https://t.co/SPk0TRudTl— austonia (@austonia)1590861555.0
It is not the first protest of the weekend, nor will it be the last.
Police in Austin made several arrests at a protest that took place last night and early this morning outside Austin Police Department headquarters downtown, KXAN reports.
Protests also took place in cities around Texas, the Texas Tribune reports, as well as in more than 30 cities around the U.S.
Gov. Greg Abbott, who yesterday said the Floyd killing was "horrific" and "a consequence of poor police work," announced today he had spoke to the mayors of major cities in Texas—including Austin—and had "sent state resources" to help manage protests.
Another protest is planned tomorrow at the Texas State Capitol.
Travis County District Attorney Margaret Moore announced last night that the office will convene a special grand jury to consider the Ramos case.
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Popular
Homeless residents have set up tents on Cesar Chavez Street near the historic Buford Tower, which caught fire earlier this month after a blaze spread from the neighboring camp. (Emma Freer)
Spearheaded by the political action committee Save Austin Now, Prop B is a direct response to City Council's 2019 decision to overturn a 23-year-old ban on such activities. This is the second time the group has tried to get the issue on the ballot since the first petition was ruled invalid by the county clerk for duplicate signatures and other issues last year. Homeless advocates campaigned against the ban, arguing that it criminalized homelessness and led to citations and tickets that prevented homeless people from accessing housing, employment and other resources. Since then, the city's homeless population has grown in size and visibility.
SAN, advocates and council members generally agree that the situation is untenable, but they disagree about the ban's merit. Austinites who are directly impacted—including people who live near camps, downtown business owners and homeless residents—feel similarly embattled, telling Austonia that, regardless of how they plan to vote, not enough is being done to house the homeless.
Word on the street
Lisa Novak bought a condo in the East Riverside neighborhood in 2013, drawn in by its affordability and Guerrero Park. She attributes the increase in camping along the Riverside Drive median to council's decision to repeal the ban. "It turned into open season," she said.
Novak worries about the recent spate of fires and how camps affect area business owners and incoming tourists. After her husband witnessed a violent exchange between two panhandlers, the couple stopped walking to their neighborhood H-E-B. She will vote for Prop B and disagrees with advocates who say it criminalizes homelessness. "I'm sorry, but as a member of society there are certain rules and regulations," she said.
Kevin Ludlow's Windsor Park home sits right behind a long-time homeless camp along Little Tannehill Branch Creek. He estimates he has spent hundreds of hours talking to city staff, council members, nonprofits and police about trash and safety concerns.
Ludlow is undecided on Prop B. He thinks a ban will address these issues, but he also feels police could be more responsive to reports of theft, vandalism and other crimes without penalizing campers who are otherwise law-abiding. "There's no winning hand, and I feel it's by design," he said.
David Kruger, fourth-generation owner of Kruger's Diamond Jewelers on Congress Avenue, is similarly ambivalent. Although homeless residents often camp out in his entryway, his issue is with city leadership, whom he feels are incapable of developing solutions. "I'm probably going to vote in favor of it, I guess, but I'd feel better if there was another item that addressed the problem," he said, comparing Prop B to trying to put toothpaste back in the tube.
Christopher Carr, a member of the Austin Homeless Advisory Committee who has been intermittently homeless since graduating from the University of Texas at Austin in the 1990s, is more decisive. A poet who loves opera and has bipolar disorder, he camps near the intersection of 15th and San Antonio streets. When the ban was in effect, he was often harassed by police he says. "You felt like you might have a few seconds before the cops showed up (if you sat down on a sidewalk)," he said.
Since the ban was lifted, Carr feels Austin's housed residents have turned against the homeless: "If you don't like seeing all these tents everywhere, why don't you not like the country where this level of indigency exists?"
A stopgap measure
Save Austin Now argues that repealing the ban has adversely impacted public safety, residents and businesses and left homeless people to live in unsafe conditions. Ken Casaday, president of the Austin Police Association and SAN board member, added that the council vote left residents out of the process. "For me, the big issue is 'let the citizens vote,'" he said. "If the citizens vote down Prop B, we'll live with it."
But the May 1 election is likely not the end of this debate. Texas lawmakers are considering a statewide ban on public camping in a clear rebuke of local policy.
Chris Harris, director of Texas Appleseed's Criminal Justice Project and an activist who helped overturn the ban in 2019, argued that the decision has made homelessness more visible, leading to greater investment by the city and nonprofits. "No matter what happens with Prop B or with these bills at the Legislature, our community can't forget about this issue," he said. "We decriminalized homelessness not because we saw it as a solution to homelessness but because we thought it was (an issue of) right-or-wrong."
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