As protesters gathered in the parking lot of the Schnucks on Lindell Tuesday night, they were preparing for the worst – and secretive about why.
“All I can tell you right now is that we’re all probably going to jail tonight,” Tory Russell said as the group waited for their final instructions. “It’s about to go down.” Veteran protesters had their gas masks handy. Others were urged to take the surgical masks being handed out with the “self-care packages.”
They asked the media to respect their privacy and step back during the two meetings they had on separate sides of the parking lot. Those who had been given intel were told to stand by. The others were directed to talk with State Rep. Bruce Franks Jr. They never stated the plans out loud, but they did tell protesters to car pool.
Demonstrators were told to raise their hands and use their fingers to show how many extra passengers they could fit in their cars. When it finally started to be whispered that protesters would be “shutting down Highway 40,” an organizer yelled out, “change of plans. Everybody get in your cars and follow us.” They shared that they would be shutting down I-64 East at 20th, but caught everyone by surprise when people jumped out of cars as they neared towards Market.
First there were a few, then a several dozen and finally more than two hundred occupied all the eastbound lanes. “If we don’t get it, shut it down,” protesters chanted. “Whose highway? Our Highway!” They stood chanting for several minutes before they proceeded to slowly march down the highway for the better part of an hour.
“Look at this [expletive],” a Metrobus operator said to his coworkers looking on from over the viaduct as protesters make their way down the highway. “Look at all those white people shouting, ‘black lives matter.’ That’s what I’m talking about.”
They marched defiantly towards downtown with the expectation that an ugly confrontation with law enforcement as officers that were attempting to maneuver through traffic. They came from the city, county and the Missouri Highway Patrol.
Protesters exited the highway without incident at 20th and Chestnut and crossed over to Market Street. Though they wouldn’t need the gas masks after all, it was here that they would suffer the consequences of their direct action. They chanted and marched to Market and Jefferson -where St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department riot police were in formation. Protesters, legal observers, clergy and live streamers retreated to the sidewalk.
At Walnut and Jefferson, St. Louis County Police Department riot police were in formation. A law enforcement officer announced that everyone in between the two rows of riot cops was to be arrested.
“What? No!” A protester who goes by LaLa said as she broke down crying. She one of the ones who had made it out the arrest perimeter on the opposite sides of police. “Everybody’s going to jail? Everything was peaceful! Why are you guys doing this?” A handful of protesters who managed to escape arrest on the Walnut side discussed the mass arrest as it was underway with a St. Louis County Police Lt. Jerry Lohr, who seemed to have a good relationship with protesters thanks to a naturally easygoing demeanor.
“They didn’t give a dispersal order or anything,” LaLa said to Lohr.
“They blocked the highway. That’s punishable by arrest,” Lohr said. “If I caught a person shoplifting, I don’t have to tell that person that they have to disperse or I will arrest them. I can just arrest them.”
“But how do you know that all those people over there were blocking the highway,” Lala shot back.
“There are pictures and footage,” Lohr said.
“But you aren’t arresting them based on pictures and footage – you are arresting them for being over there on that sidewalk,” Lala said.
“That’s fair to say,” Lohr said. “But it’s also fair to say that it’s probable, but not likely that they are just innocent bystanders.”
The people were zip-tied, lined up and carried away in the fleet of police vans. “Shout out your name and birthday so that we can pass it along to jail support,” a woman was shouting through a megaphone as they stood waiting to be transported on the Market and Jefferson side. The names and birthdays kept coming – and coming.
According to a news release by the St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department this morning, 143 arrests were made stemming from the highway shutdown.
“You should be ashamed of yourself,” Bishop Derrick Robinson told the St. Louis County police on the Walnut and Jefferson side. “You locked up 14 clergy here tonight.”
Ferguson Commission Co-Chair Rev. Starsky Wilson and Rev. Darryl Gray were among those detained.
“If Jesus were out here, you would have probably locked him up too,” Lala told the police.
“And Jesus would be out here – because this is the type of work that he did on earth,” another protester said.
