SEQUIM – Today’s protest in Sequim following the death of George Floyd in Minneapolis at the hands of a police officer is being reported by police as a peaceful event of about 200 people.
Sequim Police Chief Sheri Crain called into KONP after the protest ended at about 3:00.
“Certainly, it was intended to be peaceful and it was. About 200 people congregated at about noon. At no time was there any criminal behavior. The crowd was very well behaved. But I will say that we had a lot of rumors, and social media is both a blessing and a curse in in this case. Once the rumors started, it was really hard to unwind them. So I have two assurances for the public. The first is that we had boots on the ground and intelligence gathering from before the event started, through the event, and we will continue to process information as it comes in afterwards as well. Secondly, that we were able to disprove every rumor and every call and every suggestion of something bad that may be happening.”
Crain spoke specifically about rumors claiming not only that busloads of Antifa activists were coming to Sequim, but that they had already arrived. One gun shop owner posted that claim on social media and was calling for others to arm themselves and join him in protecting the city.
“We did have a conversation with Mr. Larson and he recognizes that he may have contributed to the rumors, and he has since gone on to post that people can cease and desist based on his information. I hope that we can learn from this incident. The fact is, there are heightened emotions right now and people want to do the right thing for their Community. They want to put messages out there and be heard. They want to protect the city. They want to protect our community. And all of those things are coming from a good place, but we need to be respectful and we need to be calm and not further agitate a situation that is actually going along pretty peaceably. And I want people to know those things because tomorrow’s got a scheduled protest. And the fact is, we get protests in the city all the time, for lots of different issues. We respect all of those people doing what it is they need to do to express their democratic rights.”
Thursday’s rally in Sequim begins at noon.
(Photo by Amanda Bacon)