MONTPELIER — A rally to support Vermont law enforcement turned into a full-blown clash between pro-police rallygoers and counter-demonstrators on the Statehouse steps Saturday.
A contingent of Black Lives Matter supporters grew to about 150 by midday, becoming large and loud enough to upend the roughly 250-person pro-police event with protests against racism.
An event that started out with speakers sharing stories in support of police to a few hundred supporters waving thin blue line and American flags turned within an hour into a contentious altercation marked by yelling and tense dialogue, creating a scene indicative of Vermont’s racial fault lines.
The clash took place just a few hundred feet from where the words “Black Lives Matter” were painted onto State Street six weeks prior.
“It’s our time to have our voices heard and show the police that there are people that care about them,” Jim Sexton, who organized the pro-cop rally with a Facebook event page, said to kick off the event just after 11 a.m. “Our role here today is to have a good, peaceful, enjoyable day.”
Within an hour, the event was out of his hands. Black Lives Matter counter-protesters swarmed the left side of the Statehouse steps, chanting and playing music out of a loudspeaker to nearly drown out the pro-police rally’s speakers. The group BTV CopWatch planned the counter-demonstration shortly after Sexton’s event was announced.
“I’m not shocked, because I know Vermont has its really racist undertones,” Noel Riby-Williams, who helped organize the Black Lives Matter protest in Montpelier last month, said of the rally. “And the racism here is probably even scarier than in other places — it’s hidden and you don’t know when it’s going to come, and it will shock you at any moment.”
“I just hope and pray that these people really realize what they’re standing for,” she added. “By standing for police brutality, you’re allowing people to be killed.”
The scene began to escalate just after 11:20 a.m., as counter-demonstrators holding signs began calling out the names of Black people killed by the police. A handful of pro-police rallygoers waved flags in front of them.
“Fee-fi-fo-fum, I smell the blood of liberal scum,” one yelled.
Twenty minutes later, the pro-police rally’s speakers were practically inaudible from the east side of the Statehouse steps as counter-protesters chanted “Black lives matter” and “no justice, no peace; defund police.”
As a scrum of demonstrators from both sides formed on the steps, protestors clashed, some exchanging words in nose-to-nose arguments while others continued chanting and waving flags off to the side.
Many counter-demonstrators continued chanting throughout the day as some danced and others held Black Lives Matter signs, creating a sort of rally of their own.
Zanevia Wilcox, a Burlington racial justice advocate who has spoken at other Black Lives Matter protests, said she was called a “f—ing n—er” in the middle of the scrum.
“The reason why we came here today was really to show that we’re not afraid — and we see you, and we’ve been seeing you,” she said. “If you go far enough in Vermont, you’ll see it without a rally. You’ll see it without the signs and the yelling.”
Dave Demar, of Milton, who said he attended to show support for law enforcement, added that he was “dismayed at the reaction” of counter-demonstrators.
“Why is it here? Just because it’s everywhere else,” Demar said of the protests against racism. “It’s just like they want to take certain aspects of our gun rights away because something happened elsewhere. Well, it didn’t happen in Vermont.”
“I just don’t see why we’re doing this here in Vermont when we have hardly any Black people here,” he added.
There was a limited police presence on the Statehouse lawn, with only a handful of officers standing on the outskirts. Newly named Montpelier Police Chief Brian Peete said Saturday evening that there were no arrests.
After the rally ended — earlier than originally planned — tensions cooled slightly and scattered conversations took place between demonstrators from the two sides.
Riby-Williams said although she thought “even them being out here today is racist behavior,” there were productive conversations during the day.
“It’s definitely a reminder that we need to keep showing up for Black lives, and showing the importance of Black lives,” she said. “I really think that although this day has had a lot of shouting and yelling, there’s been lots of conversations.
“I’ve seen people on both sides talking and just trying to understand both sides,” she said. “Conversations is where it starts, and if we don’t have conversations, nothing will change.”
Dawn Marie Tomasi, a Barre Town Republican who is running for Senate in Washington County and spoke at the rally, said she saw the counter-demonstrators as trying to “overrun, make a lot of noise and purposely not hear.”
“I’m not sad that they showed up,” she said. “I wish they would’ve listened.”
Wilcox, though, said many peaceful demonstrators were “met with nothing but violence, ignorance, and bigotry this entire time here.”
Asked if she thought any progress was made, Wilcox said, “I think we tried.”
“I’ve spoken to a couple people who I feel like I was actually able to connect to, and I felt comfortable with that,” she said.
“But,” she added, “there’s still a lot of ignorance and bigotry here that a conversation isn’t going to change.”
