The Expect Us protest collective spent several hours marching through the streets of the Central West End Friday night. The group gathered at Euclid and Maryland for an action they called “We Ain’t Done Yet.”
Hundreds marched through the streets as evening turned to night. Their action also included a partial shut down of Highway 40.
“Protestors are now entering EB I-64/40 from Kingshighway,” The St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department said via Twitter around 8:15 p.m. “ Traffic is currently being diverted off WB I-64/40 at Boyle and EB I-64/40 at Hampton. Expect delays.”
The protestors sat in the middle of the highway for nearly ten minutes.
After shutting down the highway, the protestors returned the residence of Mayor Lyda Krewson, where they shouted demands of her resignation and shot off fireworks.
Krewson has faced backlash since reading the names and addresses of protestors and St. Louis city residents who submitted letters with a request to defund the police.
The doxing compelled activist Maxi Glamour to establish an online petition through Change.org demanding Krewson’s resignation – which has garnered more than 50,000 signatures since last week.
Krewson issued an apology for the incident, but her spokesperson Jacob Long told CNN that she has no intention of resigning.
In a video filmed towards the end of a demonstration, Krewson is seen emerging from the driver’s side of an SUV and proceeding to stomp out the flames from a burning hat at around 11 p.m. on Friday night. The hat was designed in the likeness of an American flag.
“No fun guys, no fun,” Krewson said as she kicked the flames to the side. “You guys should probably go on home.”
“You should go home,” a protestor said back. “You should go home.”
“Yeah, well you know, this is my home,” Krewson responded.
Krewson then commented about the fire being put out before getting escorted back to her vehicle by police.
Protestors chanted “resign Lyda” while hitting what sounded like a cowbell as Krewson conversed with police escorts.
