South Sound News

Peaceful protest held in Olympia Monday on heels of violent night

OLYMPIA, Wash. — A few hundred protesters gathered near Capital Mall Monday to speak about changes they want to see in Olympia.

The protesters marched through the streets of west Olympia to make sure their voices were heard.

“We’re here to bother them. We’re here to get in their faces, metaphysically, you know, and we’re just going to keep going until people don’t want to walk anymore,” said Jasmyn Pereira, protest organizer.

The peaceful protest started in the mall's parking lot where a handful of people spoke to the crowd.

“I'm here to support Black Lives Matter,” said one protester.

"It's a peaceful protest, but we don't have to be nice about anything. You know what I mean? And that's kind of the point here,” said Pereira.

Monday marked the third day in a row of protests in Olympia.

Sunday, people gathered at City Hall and peacefully marched around town for a few hours.

Police said, later in the day, the crowd grew and the tone changed. Someone threw a boulder at City Hall and broke a glass door. Officers had rocks and bottles thrown at them.

A video shows people standing in the road with their hands up shouting, “Hands up, don’t shoot.” In the video, smoke is visible and loud bangs can be heard as people run.

Olympia police arrested 13 people Sunday. All are Olympia residents.

Monday, KIRO 7 met a man who took time off work to clean up the city.

"This is City Hall; this is where the change actually happens. The mayhem may happen out there, but the real change happens in here, so I’m getting it clean so they can start fresh and do something about it,” said Cameron Daniels.

The group that gathered Monday said change is exactly what it is striving for.

"It's about visibility and accountability, so we're going to do it on the west side where they can hear us,” said Pereira.

Olympia police said they’re expecting more protests throughout the course of the week.

The city of Olympia said it doesn’t plan to put a curfew in place at this time. It will continue to monitor the situation and act if needed. It hopes future protests will be peaceful.