We’ve all seen the police violence in Louisville, Kentucky — but what about Kentucky’s second-largest city, Lexington?
Well, both nights of protests have been peaceful; the Lexington PD has been present and prepared, but has engaged with (and protected) protesters instead of either antagonizing them or escalating the situation.
One activist told the Lexington Herald-Leader (you may hit a paywall):
Alisha Kattara said the police response had allowed the protest to remain peaceful. “If you talk to them, they’re nice. They answer you back. None of them are coming up to us to make us stop. In a way it kind of shows support for us cause they’re not doing what they could do.”
Yesterday, protesters blocked traffic, laid in the street, and (as shown in the title image) even mounted police cars — as the police watched and took steps to protect them.
The following photos and comments have come from Twitter...it seems clear that the Lexington-Fayette County Police Department is doing things “the right way.” Note, too, that Mayor Linda Gorton also showed up today to engage directly with protesters and listen to them…
I’m going to end this with a cautionary note; the police have apparently been informed that groups from outside Lexington (and, in some reports, outside Kentucky) are planning to come into the city for today’s protests, and that same rumor is going around local Twitter. Given that we’ve already seen multiple instance of outsiders and other agents provocateur disrupting protests and escalating tensions, I think it important to keep in mind that we’ve already had two days of peaceful home-grown protests with no escalation from the Lexington government or police.