Protesters march through Center City demanding justice for Breonna Taylor

For a second night, demonstrators took to the streets in Philadelphia on Thursday to protest a Kentucky grand jury’s decision not to charge police officers for killing Breonna Taylor.

About 100 people gathered first on Independence Mall and then started marching through Center City.

Around 8 p.m., chanting “Say her name! Breonna Taylor!” they moved onto I-95. Police diverted traffic onto Delaware Avenue as protesters took over the highway.

Protesters now blocking that too pic.twitter.com/0pzeSasuQ4

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pic.twitter.com/CZummdD3oN

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Dozens of police officers, mostly on bikes, herded the protesters off the highway into Queen Village.

“We’re going through the neighborhoods, the places that sit here and write on their Instagrams and Twitters and Facebooks that we’re thugs and we’re angry and we’re just causing commotion,” said organizer Mikal Woods. “But we went through all those neighborhoods and they clapped in solidarity with us.”

The group then kept marching through neighborhoods. The roving protest was punctuated by tense moments, such as when demonstrators say an officer pushed one of them on South Street near 11th. Protesters chanted “defund the police” for a few minutes, then kept marching.

Tense moment. Protesters say an officer pushed somebody and everybody got defensive. Protesters chanted defund the police for a few minutes then kept marching pic.twitter.com/Mptf3vrYoE

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“I feel like, at the very least, they feel us, they hear us. And now we need to get in our legislature, we need our politicians to hear us more vividly,” said Justin, a recent college graduate living in Fairmount, who would not give his last name, as they proceeded down South Street.

Around 9 p.m., the group approached the South Street Bridge leading into West Philadelphia, to find it blocked by a line of officers with their bikes. The crowd shouted at the officers, but eventually turned back into Center City.

Stopped at South St bridge, police lined up on bikes, protesters still chanting pic.twitter.com/qY9zQMuwS1

— Joe Hernandez (@byJoeHernandez) September 25, 2020

The protest wrapped up around 10 p.m. at City Hall.