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Des Moines Black Lives Matter activists say law enforcement officers boxed them in at a protest Monday night, preventing them from leaving, and then arrested 18 protesters for failing to follow orders to disperse.

We were planning to do a nonviolent march downtown, then come right back up to our cars and go home, said BLM organizer Jaylen Cavil at another protest outside the Polk County Jail Wednesday.

BLM activists said police pushed them off of their planned protest route Monday night and into a dark residential neighborhood.

They boxed us in from an alleyway and three streets, said Matthew Bruce, a lead BLM organizer. They closed the box in. And as they started closing the box in, then they gave the dispersal orders.

The protesters are accusing law enforcement of kettling, which is the controversial police tactic of blocking off streets and forcing people into a confined area. Some said law enforcement officers also used pepper spray and pushed protesters with shields Monday night.

What they did to us was the sickest, most disgusting thing Ive ever witnessed in my life, Bruce said.

There was always an avenue for protesters to remove themselves to avoid arrest, Des Moines Police Department spokesperson Paul Parizek said in a statement.

Parizek did not directly answer a question from IPR about whether DMPD believes protesters did anything illegal or violent Monday night before they were ordered to disperse.

Our position has been clear from the beginning, Parizek said. Peaceful protest is welcome and supported but disorderly conduct, disruption of peaceful neighborhoods, and destruction of property has an expiration date. It wont be allowed to continue.

Activists accused Parizek of lying about Monday night.

Iowa State Patrol spokesperson Alex Dinkla said kettling tactics were not used, and that ample time was given for protesters to follow dispersal orders.

But ACLU of Iowa Legal Director Rita Bettis Austen said in a statement the organization is in touch with eyewitnesses to Monday nights protest and police response.

There are credible accounts of police action in violation of the constitutional guarantee of free speech, including kettling and the use of excessive force on nonviolent protesters including a child, media, and a legal observer, Bettis Austen said.

She added the ACLU is considering litigation.

Its clear to us that law enforcement leadership is failing to keep officers in line and communicate clearly to them that their role is to protect protesters ability to exercise their free speech rightsnot to punish protesters for challenging police brutality and racism, Bettis Austen said.

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Black Lives Matter Protesters In Des Moines Say Police Boxed Them In Before Making Arrests - Iowa Public Radio

The people of our nation are being attacked by the very system that is required by law to help them, serve them, and protect them from crimes against them. While this is the Police force's job, they are rather doing the opposite. They are taking the lives of people who are supposed to be protected. These hate crimes have been going on for CENTURIES. So much of our government system has been changed to make the United States of America the best country in the world, but now, as everyone is seeing in the news, America is no longer taking Black lives into account. Black lives matter whether the racist people of America and our Government think so. BLACK LIVES MATTER. They are not slaves. They are not servants. They are NOT to be punished for the color of their skin. THEY ARE PEOPLE. THEY WERE PEOPLE BEFORE WE TOOK THEM TO THE AMERICAS FOR SLAVES. THEY WILL BE PEOPLE AND THEY WILL HAVE OUR SUPPORT.

Our leaders, including Don Beyer, need to help their people protect their rights and lives.

Molly Hamrin

Alexandria

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Opinion: Letter to the Editor: Black Lives Matter - Virginia Connection Newspapers

Im happy that Ahmauds name will be a part of such a big change, but at the same time I have to snap back into reality that Ahmaud is gone."

ATLANTA A new hate crimes bill is awaiting Governor Brian Kemps signature. The bill, passed Tuesday with bipartisan support, createsharsher penalties for crimesmotivated by race, color, religion, sex, gender and disability to name a few.

Georgia remained one of four states without a hate crimes bill, but calls for one renewed after the death of Ahmaud Arbery.

His mother, Wanda Cooper-Jones, told 11Alive the new bill is bittersweet.

Im happy that Ahmauds name will be a part of such a big change, but at the same time I have to snap back into reality that Ahmaud is gone, but his name will live forever I think, she said, looking exhausted but relieved.

Cooper-Jones said she hopes the bill prevents other mothers from experiencing the same pain of losing a child in a potentially racially motivated crime.

Lee Merritt, attorney for the Arbery family, points to the bills as one of several long-term takeaways created out of the current Black Lives Matter movement.

This new law is in place and it will be in place next week and next month and next year when this is no longer trending. And so it is a permanent takeaway and its a big deal, said Merritt.

The bill went back and forth in the legislature for a week;first adding police as a protected class under the law, then removing them and placing police protections under another separate bill that passed.

The back and forth was a move Georgia NAACP President Reverend James Woodall said proves theres more work to be done.

To include that kind of provision when we already have laws on the books that protect them, that increase the penalties for crimes committed against people in that profession, to add to that in this moment, that tells us that Black Lives really do not matter, Woodall said. As we sat in theRayshard Brooks funeral, HB838 was passed simultaneously as us witnessing the eulogy of Mr. Brooks."

The Vice President of the Anti-Defamation League, Alison Padilla-Goodman, called the statute a defining moment in Georgia history- with a clear message to all Georgians.

We care about who you are and who you love, who you worship, what you look like and we are going to value you as an individual and were going to protect you, said Padilla-Goodman, who worked to push a hate crimes bill in Georgia for years.

But everyone agrees, the bill is just the beginning, one piece of a much larger puzzle.

Woodall outlined four additional steps, including removing Brunswick Judicial Circuit District Attorney Jackie Johnson and Waycross Circuit District Attorney George Barnhill for mishandling the Arbery investigation. Woodall said he would also like to see a repeal of the Citizens arrest law, the stand your ground law and hopes to see more transparency regards to investigations into police departments.

Merritt agreed, adding a national police reform should be next and the work should continue long after 2020 ends.

Im hoping the reconstruction period last a lot longer than this next year," he said.

Cooper-Jones added, We must continue to support and make sure that we get change. We cant just stop,

Merritt said Arbery's name may be on the hate crimes bill. Theres no timeline for when the governor will sign it, but his office said it's expected to happen after a legal review of the bill.

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Ahmaud Arberys mom on hate crimes bill passing in Georgia: His name will live on forever. - 11Alive.com WXIA

The Minneapolis City Council will vote today on a proposal to change the city charter to allow elimination of the citys police department. It is a move supported by a majority of the council after George Floyds death but far from assured, reports Amy Forliti for the Associated Press

The vote is just one step in a process that faces significant bureaucratic obstacles to make the November ballot, where the citys voters would have the final say

The Minneapolis force has come under heavy pressure since Floyd was killed on 25 May, sparking a global wave of Black Lives Matter anti-racism protests. Local activists had long accused the department of being unable to change a racist and brutal culture, and earlier this month, a majority of the council proclaimed support for dismantling the department.

Doing so would first require amending the city charter. Draft language of the amendment posted online would replace the department with a Department of Community Safety and Violence Prevention, which will have responsibility for public safety services prioritising a holistic, public health-oriented approach.

It is time to make structural change, Council Member Steve Fletcher told AP. It is time to start from scratch and reinvent what public safety looks like.

Fletcher said under the new agency when someone calls 911, there will always be a response thats appropriate, including the option for a response by employees authorised to use force. But he said the vast majority of calls that police officers currently take will be answered by employees with different expertise.

The proposed amendment is expected to be approved Friday, but thats just a first step. It goes then to a policy committee and to the citys Charter Commission for formal review. The commissions recommendation doesnt bind the council, but it takes time.

Barry Clegg, chairman of the Charter Commission, said the process feels rushed.

As I understand it, they are saying, We are going to have this new department. We dont know what its going to look like yet. We wont implement this for a year, well figure it out, Clegg said. For myself anyway, I would prefer that we figured it out first, and then voted on it.

For his part, Mayor Jacob Frey doesnt support abolishing the department, a stance that got him booed off the street by activists who demonstrated outside his house following Floyds death and demanded to know where he stood.

Frey expressed concerns about the proposed amendment as currently drafted, including whether the change would eliminate police altogether or allow for a police presence going forward.

There is a significant lack of clarity. And if Im seeing a lack of clarity, so are our constituents, said Frey, who has said he supports deep structural change in the existing department.

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US politics: Mike Pence to lead first public coronavirus task force briefing for months live updates - The Guardian

Vice President Mike Pence participates in an event at the Ingleside Hotel Tuesday, June 23, 2020, in Pewaukee, Wis.(Photo: Associated Press)

Vice President Mike Pence is returning to Arizona next week, a visit he surely hopes will bolster President Donald Trumps standing in the battleground state battered by record levels of coronavirus cases and hospitalizations that show no signs of abating.

The visit comes fresh off Trumps visit to Arizona this week and as national polls show him trailing Democrat Joe Biden in a state critical to Trumps reelection bid.

Pence will travel to Tucson on Tuesday, where he will give remarks as part of his faith-centered tour called Faith in America. There, he will seek to court voters of faith for the president in the solidly-Democratic Pima County.

Pence will then meet with Gov. Doug Ducey in Yuma, where the pair will discuss the efforts the state is taking to combat COVID-19 in the city, which has emerged as one of the worst coronavirus hot spots in the state.

Yuma County reported a total of 310 coronavirus cases on May 15, when Duceys stay-at-home order expired, according to state data.

Cases have increased in Yuma Countyby nearly 1,500% since then, to 4,915, as of Wednesday. Statewide, cases increased by 355%during that time period.

Pence and Ducey, who both served as Republican governors together, speak frequently to discuss the latest on COVID-19 in Arizona.

A spokesman for the governor did not immediately respond to The Arizona Republics request for information about the governors planned remarks to Pence next week.

Republic reporterAlison Steinbach contributed to this report.

Have news to share about Arizona's U.S. senators or national politics?Reach the reporter on Twitter and Facebook. Contact her at yvonne.wingett@arizonarepublic.com and 602-444-4712.

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Vice President Mike Pence is returning to battleground Arizona with stops in Tucson, Yuma - AZCentral