On Tuesday, social justice organization Until Freedom led a march for Breonna Taylor around Churchill Downs, the site of the Kentucky Derby. The march attracted hundreds of protesters and resulted in over 60 people being arrested.
CBS News reports that the march went from a Louisville Metro Police training facility to Churchill Downs and then eventually made its way to a nearby overpass. Once the march arrived at the overpass, a group of protesters sat down on the roadway to block traffic, despite police having already redirected it. Louisville Metro Police arrested the 68 protesters who sat on the overpass and charged them with disorderly conduct and obstructing a roadway. Later that same evening, a separate protest was held in downtown Louisville that resulted in four additional protesters being arrested.
Tuesday’s march marked the end of BreonnaCon, a series of events intended to amplify calls for the officers who killed Breonna Taylor to be arrested and charged. Taylor was a 26-year-old EMT who was shot and killed in her own home by police officers executing a failed narcotics bust.
Officials for the LMPD said that the demonstrations were largely peaceful, according to WLKY. Porsche Miller, a veteran of the U.S. Army, was among those arrested on Tuesday. He traveled to Kentucky from Atlanta to add his voice to the calls for justice. “I need to stand! And it’s now or never and I’m going to continue to fight! I’m going to continue to fight not for just blacks, for all colors,” Miller told WLKY.
Since Taylor’s death in March, Louisville has been the site of multiple protests demanding that the officers involved be held accountable for their actions. Tuesday’s march was the second large scale demonstration conducted by Until Freedom. In July, the group organized a massive sit-in on the front lawn on Kentucky Attorney General Daniel Cameron, who is currently investigating the case.
Cameron has repeatedly declined to provide a timetable for when a decision will be made about arresting the officers, though Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear did urge him to wrap his investigation up earlier this week.