AKRON, Ohio — While the protest against the Jayland Walker grand jury decision was mostly peaceful Wednesday, Akron Police used pepper spray and then gas canisters on protesters who were in the street and blocking traffic.
Protesters met up at Hawkins Plaza Wednesday evening and began a four-mile march down S. Hawkins Avenue and Copley Road, with a caravan of vehicles and around 100 protesters chanting and holding signs expressing their disagreement with the grand jury's decision not to indict the eight officers involved in the deadly shooting of Walker last June.
According to the City of Akron's Facebook page, after the march reached Copley Road and East Avenue, an unlawful assembly was declared at about 8:30 p.m. and orders to disperse were issued.
Video shows police using pepper spray and gas canisters and ordering protesters to "get out of the street" and "go home." The video, captured by Ideastream reporter Ygal Kaufman, shows some officers spraying pepper spray in a wide swath in front of them, apparently indiscriminately, even appearing to point at and spray the reporter.
Pepper spray deployed at the protest. @ideastream pic.twitter.com/k4jGxisnKx
— Ygal Kaufman (@gentleentry) April 19, 2023
The city told News 5 that bottles were thrown at officers at some point, but it is not clear whether that was before or after officers began using pepper spray and gas canisters.
Tara Mosley, the Ward 5 councilwoman in Akron, said in a statement that there were no reports of injuries or property damage before the officers declared the assembly unlawful, and the "declaration was their justification for deploying chemical weapons on the people of Akron."
Mosley disputed the city's claim that officers issued the orders to disperse because officers were having bottles thrown at them from marchers.
"But, from the available evidence—and there is much of it online—the protests were peaceful before the officers ordered the people to disperse," she said. "The people were calling for accountability. Nothing more, nothing less."
An Akron Police official told News 5 they are gathering information about last night's events and will be sending a release later in the day Thursday.
March organizers told us Akron Police have so far not given the community all the space it needs to speak out.
“I feel like a lot people are angry, a lot of people are hurt, they have a lot of stuff built up inside, they're stuck inside because they're afraid of what the police might do to them. So people are afraid to use their voice; I’m not,” demonstrator Franklin Ragsdale said.
Right now, there is no word on if any arrests have been made from the protest march, or the damage done to buildings downtown Wednesday night.
RELATED: Windows broken at several downtown Akron businesses Wednesday night
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