Organizers hope for peaceful protests today in Lewiston

Protesters will gather in silence at 11 a.m. today at Kiwanis Park on Snake River Avenue in Lewiston for the Black Lives Matter Peace Rally to protest the recent killing of George Floyd while he was in the custody of Minneapolis police officers.

Black Lives Matter organizers plan their peaceful protest to be in Kiwanis Park and a march along the levee pathway. The Defend Lewiston 2nd Amendment Rally put on by Heather Rogers, who writes the blog Liberate Idaho, will be held at Brackenbury Square in downtown Lewiston at the same time, 11 a.m.

Black Lives Matter organizers JeaDa Lay and Madison Winn reminded people on their LC Valley Black Lives Matter Facebook page Friday that they have not recruited any organizations or outside sources to protest. There are not people being bused in for the event, they said.

Winn met with Lewiston Police Chief Budd Hurd and Lay spoke with Lewiston Mayor Michael Collins.

They stressed that there will be no violence, no looting and no destruction and they wish to keep Lewiston safe. Again, Lay and Winn ask protesters to arrive at the peace rally in silence and to maintain protocols as much as possible regarding COVID-19.

“No one that leaves the park or the march on the levee is involved in this particular protest,” an LC Valley Black Lives Matter Facebook post said Friday. “We have organized a group of volunteers who are informed and will be keeping the peace.”

Rogers’ Defend Lewiston event is in support of local law enforcement, and another group known on Facebook as Protect LC Valley, headed by Clint Heuett and Nick Kress, plans three-person teams carrying firearms and positioning at every intersection in downtown, and also to have vehicles on patrol.

Hurd said he is bothered by the fact that there will be a lot of people carrying firearms in Lewiston today, but acknowledged they are within their rights to have them and he says no one in the Defend Lewiston 2nd Amendment Rally or others who plan to carry firearms have told him they do not believe the police can handle today’s events.

“I did meet with the Second Amendment group and we had a good discussion about their role,” Hurd said. “If everyone stays within their plans, this should be a very peaceful event.”

Lewiston Fire Chief Travis Myklebust said the fire department will have two ambulance crews and an engine crew working today, staged near the event, in addition to its normal weekend staffing.

Nez Perce Tribal Police plan to be at the Black Lives Matter Peace Rally this morning “to provide safety and reassurance for our community to stand behind those exercising their rights,” a tribal police notice said Friday. “Officers were onsite Thursday and it was well received by the community. This is a time where we all need to come together and support one another the best we can. Our officers are doing their part by ensuring your protection.”

Both Idaho Gov. Brad Little’s office and the Idaho National Guard confirmed Friday that there were no plans to send Idaho National Guard troops to Lewiston, quelling a rumor spreading around town that Guardsmen were coming to Lewiston in riot gear.

About 60 Idaho National Guard troops from north Idaho were mustering for a deployment in Washington, D.C., Idaho National Guard spokesman Lt. Col. Christopher Borders said. The Idaho National Guard is sending about 400 volunteers to the nation’s capital to be deployed at monuments and federal buildings.

The American Civil Liberties Union has produced 10 tips for protesters that Nez Perce County Prosecutor Justin Coleman agrees is sound legal advice for protesters. This is the list:

• The right to protest is a fundamental human right guaranteed by the U.S. Constitution and the First Amendment.
• If a protester is stopped, ask police if you are free to go. If the police say yes, calmly walk away.
• You have the right to record. The right to protest includes the right to record, including recording police doing their jobs.
• The police can order people to stop interfering with legitimate police operations, but video recording from a safe distance is not interfering.
• If you get stopped, police cannot take or confiscate any videos or photos without a warrant.
• If you are videotaping, keep in mind in some states, the audio is treated differently than the images. But images and video images are always fully protected by the First Amendment.
• The police’s main job in a protest is to protect your right to protest and to de-escalate any threat of violence.
• If you get arrested, don’t say anything. Ask for a lawyer immediately. Do not sign anything and do not agree to anything without an attorney present.
• If you are arrested, demand your right to a local phone call.
• If you call a lawyer for legal advice, law enforcement is not allowed to listen.
• Police cannot delete data from your device under any circumstances.

Wells may be contacted at mwells@lmtribune.com or (208) 848-2275.