HOUSTON, Texas – Protesters supporting the Baltimore protests came out in Houston on Wednesday evening. The protest in Houston was small in numbers and remained peaceful. The Houston Police Department is highly visible with patrol units and the Houston Mounted Patrol officers that are specially trained in crowd control.
Phil Archer (@PhilArcher_KPRC), a reporter and anchor for KPRC2 in Houston tweeted that police outnumber the protesters. A helicopter photo from KPRC showed a crowd of a few dozen people gathered outside a Denny’s located near Highway 288 and Live Oak on the city’s south side. Police officials told KPRC at 6 p.m. there were about 6 protesters.
While the protests remain peaceful, language is becoming passionate. In the tweet shown in the top photo above from KPRC’s Keith Garvin, he wrote, “Houston protest to support #Baltimore growing slightly. Several people yelling ‘f*$! The police.’” That tweet went out about 6:30 p.m. In another tweet, Garvin quoted protesters, “No justice, no peace! Disarm the police!”
About fifty people were reportedly protesting by KTRK ABC13 in Houston. At that scene, protesters held up signs saying “Honk for Justice,” and “America’s worst nightmare.” These signs were accompanied by other anti-police signs as well.
A local community activist, journalist and blogger @BrotherJesse quoted one protest sign and tweeted, “‘We do not mourn broken windows. We mourn Black lives.’ Houston Solidarity.” Another tweet (below) shows more photos from the Houston protest.
The Houston protests, while small in numbers, joined with other protests occurring in major cities across the nation. The protests are in response to the “in custody” death of Freddie Gray.
While “Black Lives Matter” signs were in evidence, there were no reports of and signs supporting Houston Community College Police Officer April Pikes who was stabbed 14 times in an assassination attempt at a Walmart in Southwest Houston on Tuesday night. Pike was previously listed as being in critical condition. Here condition has been upgraded to stable, according to a KHOU report.
Bob Price is a senior political news contributor for Breitbart Texas and a member of the original Breitbart Texas team. Follow him on Twitter @BobPriceBBTX and on Facebook.