Outrage as North Carolina cops ‘destroy’ a makeshift medical tent set up for protesters – but police chief hits back claiming group was in breach of curfew
- More than a dozen cops in riot gear ‘destroyed’ a makeshift medical tent in Asheville on Tuesday night
- The police were seen slashing water bottles and dumping the tent’s food and medical supplies after the organizers breached curfew
- The city’s mayor called the incident ‘disappointing’, but the police chief hit back saying that protesters were in breach of the law
Police in Asheville, North Carolina ‘destroyed’ a makeshift medical tent set up for peaceful protesters during George Floyd demonstrations.
The incident took place in the city’s downtown Tuesday shortly after the 8pm curfew went into effect, with more than a dozen cops in riot gear seen clearing out medics who were on the scene to administer aid to activists.
Police promptly slashed their water bottles with knives, before dumping the group’s food and medical supplies. The Asheville Citizen Times reports that around $700 worth of rations and medicines were destroyed.
Footage of the event has been viewed on Twitter more than 3 million times, prompting Asheville’s mayor to chime in, describing it as ‘a disappointing moment in an otherwise peaceful evening’.
Police in Asheville, North Carolina ‘destroyed’ a makeshift medical tent on Tuesday night after organizers refused to disassemble it before curfew kicked in at 8pm
Food and medical supplies were seen scattered throughout the alleyway where the tent was set up on Tuesday. Organizers say around $700 worth of supplies were destroyed
Mayor Esther Manheimer told the Citizen Times that ‘council has now asked for an explanation’ as to why the ‘destruction’ occurred.
In a statement shared on Wednesday, Asheville’s Police Chief David Zack hit back, saying: ‘The supply station was not permitted by the City of Asheville and was located on private property, without the permission of the property owner.’
He also claimed that protesters at the medical tent were in breach of curfew, and that the water bottles had to be slashed because they have been ‘used as objects that can be thrown at police officers’ .
On Wednesday afternoon, organizers again set up the makeshift station in the same downtown alleyway in order to provide any medical support for protesters.
However, the group insisted they would be packed up before curfew in order to comply with the law and to protect their supplies.
It appeared to be a somewhat small truce between protesters and police officers, following days of demonstrations over the death of unarmed black men George Floyd.
Cops were seen slashing hundreds of water bottles with knives. The police chief said they had no choice but to destroy the bottles, because they had previously been used as objects to throw at law enforcement officials
But one protester says he is still rattled by Tuesday’s incident.
College student Sean Miller called the destruction ‘very shocking’ and ‘very jarring’.
‘They grabbed us by the shoulders and pushed [us] out of the alleyway where we were trying to provide medical support,” Miller told the Citizen Times.
Demonstrator Glenn Grant additionally told the publication: ‘“They threw several people to the ground. We were thrown, shouted at, screamed at and treated like criminals. No one resisted.’