Little Rock Mayor Frank Scott Jr. in a press conference on Sunday morning said he was thankful the demonstrations in Little Rock on Saturday protesting the death of George Floyd did not result in serious injuries or major damage.
Scott said that "many were able to go home unscathed." He added, "For that, we are grateful."
Demonstrations in downtown Little Rock on Saturday included a rally and march near the Capitol. At one point, demonstrators briefly blocked the Interstate 630 freeway.
After sunset, the protest ended when Arkansas State Police with riot shields deployed volleys of tear gas toward a crowd of hundreds of protesters gathered near the southeast corner of the Capitol complex, forcing them back toward Capitol Avenue, where they mostly dispersed by 11:15 p.m.
Protesters shattered several windows of the Winthrop Rockefeller Building and another nearby building south of the Capitol.
At the Sunday morning press conference held at Little Rock City Hall, Police Chief Keith Humphrey said items were thrown at officers. There was also an attempt to pull shields from officers guarding the Capitol, Humphrey said.
[Video not showing up above? Click here to watch » https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mtCVEZN4jrs]
Non-lethal tear gas and pepper balls were used, Humphrey said, though Scott emphasized that it was not the Little Rock police officers who deployed tear gas.
When protesters gained access to I-630, Humphrey said they continued to walk and exited the freeway to continue back to the Capitol. "That's unlike some of the things that we've seen through the nation, which lets me know that our citizens understand what a peaceful protest is all about," Humphrey said.
One Little Rock police officer was injured when she was hit with an object and also "overcome by one of the chemical agents that was dispersed," Humphrey said. The officer was provided medical attention and transported to a local hospital; she is "doing OK," he said.
No arrests were made related to the damage to buildings in the downtown area, Humphrey said. Officers later on Saturday night pursued and arrested suspects in a burglary of the Target store on University Avenue when someone broke through the front door, Humphrey said.
Humphrey said he believed that demonstrators who damaged property “did not live here in the city of Little Rock.”
The mayor said he was proud of Little Rock residents who “walked the streets, and even walked the interstates in a peaceful manner, and that were protected by the men and women of the Little Rock Police Department, acknowledging that they were exhibiting their First Amendment rights, based on peace."
To people who might disagree with what transpired last night, Scott said the city and the country are "experiencing hurt, heartache and pain" related not just to the killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis. He referred to the pain of black men and women who have experienced death "this year, last year and many years ago."
"And as they are experiencing this pain, it is only human that pain is expressed," Scott said. "But I am grateful that the pain was expressed in a peaceful manner and we had the men and women of the Little Rock Police Department that helped maintain peace and protection."