COLUMBUS – As protests continued across the country against President Donald Trump’s travel ban on seven Muslim-majority countries and his other immigration actions, Columbus police released a timeline of events during a demonstration downtown Monday that led to pepper spray being deployed for crowd control.
The American Civil Liberties Union of Ohio issued a call for anyone who took part in the demonstration who felt their rights had been violated to contact the ACLU.
If you attended the CBUS protest yesterday & experienced a violation of your rights, we want to hear from you! email contact@acluohio.org
— ACLU of Ohio (@acluohio) January 31, 2017
Over a 30-minute period, police say officers issued repeated orders for a crowd blocking streets and intersections to disperse before finally using pepper spray at 8:50 p.m.
A pregnant woman whose labor was scheduled to be induced was unable to get to the hospital by way of the intersection of Main and High streets at 7:50 p.m. and was escorted to the hospital, according to the report.
A peaceful demonstration is viewed as a legally acceptable manner of expressing an opinion. The right to protest, when done according to law, is embedded in the spirit of the Constitution. The role of the Columbus Division of Police during a demonstration is twofold: to protect the rights of peaceful demonstrators and to protect the rights of the public. Permits are not typically required for demonstrations. However, permits are required for the formation of any parade, procession or other moving assemblage upon any street or public thoroughfare. No permit was obtained by the demonstrators. No arrests were reported. –Columbus Div. of Police statement
According to the police report, several hundred demonstrators gathered at the Statehouse at 5:00 p.m. to begin a protest of a variety of issues, including the immigration ban.
Just before 7:30, the demonstrators began walking from Broad Street to State Street and within 12 minutes blocked all lanes of traffic and were walking south on S. High Street, blocking westbound Rich Street, the report stated.
A cruiser was requested at S. High Street and Fulton Street for traffic control at 7:48 p.m., just before the pregnant woman was stopped on S. High Street south of Main Street and was then escorted to the hospital.
At 8:00 p.m. police say the demonstrators began chanting, “Take- the- streets!” and stood on High Street, not moving. A few minutes later, officers reported the demonstrators sitting in street at High Street and State Street, then linking arms and standing in middle of S. High Street.
The first dispersal warning was issued at 8:21 p.m., ordering the demonstrators ordered to disperse from the streets and stay on sidewalks.
Additional officers and supervisors was asked to respond to the area at 8:42 and the division’s personnel were ordered to respond only to priority runs in four out of the division’s five patrol zones
At 8:50 p.m., all COTA buses were moved off of High Street between Livingston Avenue and Spring Street.
After dispersal orders had been issued at least three times, officers sprayed MK-9 OC Aerosol in “dispersed pattern deployed to cause crowd to move,” the statement said.
Demonstrators began to move and were back on the sidewalks at 9:24, police said.
Officers returned to their regular duty and COTA buses were back in service on High Street by 9:42 p.m., police said.
No arrests were reported.