Milwaukee Police Removed Barricades Opening Traffic Flow While Crowds Spilled Into The Street At Sunday's Families Belong Together Rally And Protest

Civilians put up barricades during downtown rally and protest to stop traffic flow from getting through after the crowds spilled into the street, but police immediately removed the barricades to allow traffic through while crowds blocked the street.

By H. Nelson Goodson

Hispanic News Network U.S.A.

June 30, 2018

Milwaukee, Wisconsin - On Sunday, after the crowds spilled into the street during the Keeping Families Together rally and protest against Trump's Zero Tolerance policy and the Muslim ban, Milwaukee police removed barricades that were put up by civilians to stop the traffic flow as a safety measure. A rally organizer had told those attending to stay off the street, since they had no permit to block the street. But as more people arrived at the downtown rally, the crowds spilled in to the street blocking traffic.

Milwaukee Police Lt. Harris when asked why the barricades were removed and no officer was designated to direct or divert traffic while the crowds spilled into the street? Lt. Harris said, that pedestrians were not allowed to put up barricades without a permit and they were taken down by him and other officers at the scene. When asked why wasn't discretion used to place an officer to divert traffic as a safety measure?, he responded that the event organizers had no permit to block the street.

People would think that as a safety measure, a police officer would be designated to divert traffic, but Lt. Harris response was "It's always our obligation to protect the public, did anybody get run over, anybody get hurt?"
An organizer for the event confirmed that they had applied for a permit about a week ago to block the street, but the City requested a month in advance notice of filing an application even though a permit was granted to hold the event on the sidewalks on both sides of the street.

In N. Dakota, GOP legislators passed a bill that allowed for drivers to go through crowds without stopping when traffic flow is blocked during rallies and protests.