People Protest Police Brutality in New Mexico, Cops Tear Gas Them

Hundreds of people took to the
streets of Albuquerque, New Mexico, yesterday to protest police
brutality. The police responded by blocking the activists’ paths
and firing tear gas canisters at them.

The demonstration, which began in the early afternoon outside
the Albuquerque Police Department (APD) headquarters, came as a
response to the department’s frequent use of force.

“There has been excessive force lately—in the last couple of
years — and I think something has to be done,” one
participant told
a local news station. “The new police chief is not
doing his job. He spoke wrongly two weeks ago by justifying it,
before everything was out there.”

The Associated Press notes that
the APD has been involved in 37 shootings since 2010 and is
currently under federal investigation. In one recent incident,
officers shot
a homeless man for illegally camping on public
grounds.

By 5 p.m., an estimated 300 protesters were marching through the
streets and riot police armed with batons and wearing gas masks
(and some riding riot
gear-wearing horses) arrived to disperse the crowds. The APD

declared the gathering an “unlawful assembly,”
implying that the protesters intended to use violence.

However, the Albuquerque Journal writes
that the situation didn’t become “unruly” until 8 p.m., after New
Mexico State Police arrived. The Journal reported at the
time:

A line of riot police have blocked about 200 protesters’ passage
west on Central Avenue near Girard, and protesters have thrown eggs
and water bottles at APD vehicles.

About 75 protesters are confronting police in front of the line
of officers, which includes those mounted on horses and empty
prisoner-transport vans.

[…]

“We want to ensure you have the right to protest in a lawful
manner,” police can be heard telling the protesters.

The nearby APD Monte Vista substation was also vandalized with
spray-painted expletives.

Soon after, the Bernalillo
County SWAT Team, operating armored vehicles, joined in and
officers arrested at least one protester.

After 9 p.m., Mayor Richard Berry warned that “individuals who
weren’t connected necessarily with the original protest [had] taken
it far beyond a normal protest,” when protesters reportedly injured
one officer and broke a patrol car window. So, law enforcement
began firing tear gas into crowds and according to Associated
Press, “Bernalillo County sheriff’s deputies charg[ed] at the
protesters.”

People regrouped two hours later, and the police fired more tear
gas at them. One attendee captured an
incident on camera.

State Sen. Joe Cervantes (D) wrote on Twitter that
“student housing [was] impacted” at the University of New Mexico
when “tear gas has drifted inside dorms”

The protests petered out late in the night.