Peaceful protests attracts hundreds in Fremont

FREMONT, Calif. - A few hundred people took to the streets of Fremont on Wednesday and marched in a peaceful protest. The protest ended before the city’s curfew which is set to expire Thursday morning.

The protest was organized by a group of Fremont residents who wanted to take the Black Lives Matter movement to the quiet suburbs of Fremont saying racism and police violence can happen anywhere.

Hundreds of people gathered at Washington High School in Fremont for another evening of protests. Hours prior, a memorial service was held in Minneapolis for George Floyd whose death sparked outrage across the country.

The demonstration began around 4:30 p.m. Protestors poured out of the high school parking lot to police headquarters some two miles away.

“Things are wrong,” said Vince Cruz of Fremont. “We got to make a stand and teach these kids right from wrong.”

The crowd represented the diverse makeup of the city.

“There’s a lot of unity in the community and that we are all together,” said Prabhjot Singh of Fremont. “We understand there is injustice.”

Many in the crowd wore masks and held signs. One man’s sign read “How many weren't filmed?” as the group chanted George Floyd’s name. Demonstrators calling on racism to end not lives.

Some in the group listing demands including ending the relationship between the police department and the school district, to defund the police and for candidates running for elected office not to take money from police organizations.

One speaker asked police not to join the protest highlighting the deep rift that exists.

At the police station, speakers quoted Martin Luther King and made passionate pleas for change.

The protest was peaceful and other than road closures did not cause too much of a disruption. Another protest is scheduled for Saturday.