The Call will be publishing a series of reports from demonstrations against the police murder of George Floyd in Minneapolis.
The streets were barricaded for blocks around Barclays and officers were everywhere.
I saw a cyclist attempt to turn down one of these streets. Without saying a single word, a cop grabbed the handlebars of their bike and yanked it to the ground so they fell off.
There were hundreds of cops. It was a military presence.
At first, they were trying to keep everyone boxed in on the plaza. When people tried to spread out to practice social distancing, the cops would force them back. The crowd was loud and angry but peaceful.
Suddenly, the cops started macing people who were near the barricade and trying to break up the big group and keep us separated. To clear the plaza, they violently shoved people with bikes and barricades. I saw many cops use pepper spray on protestors who were already moving away. The cops were chasing people and shoving others out of the way; grabbing people from the crowd, beating them with batons, dragging them and forcing them to the ground. On each person there would be five or six cops.
I saw a protestor come up to try to pour water in the eyes of someone who got maced, and a cop shoved them away so they fell.
The violence was so excessive and completely indiscriminate, it seemed like the cops were just grabbing and arresting whoever they could get their hands on.