SE Grand Rapids News

Protestors on June 1 were gathered on Fulton Street in Grand Rapids when police officers moved in just after the 7 p.m. curfew and fired "less-than-lethal firearms" at the protestors, MLive reported.

One protestor, who was unnamed, said that they were backing up and asked the officer to put his gun down and stop aiming at them, but the officer still discharged the weapon that struck him in the arm.

During the day, protestors were gathered at the intersection of Fulton Street and Ionia Avenue and witnessed Michigan National Guard Humvees start dispersing as curfew drew closer. When the Guardsmen and police officers put on their gas masks, protestors began to disperse, MLive reported.

“We are not terrorists," one unnamed man said, according to MLive. "We are marchers for human rights.”

The officers secured the block by 7:40 p.m., with police arresting at least four individuals.

Previously, the police had warned that anyone who violated the curfew would suffer consequences, after a riot over the weekend had caused major destruction and looting.

When Grand Rapids Police Chief Eric Payne addressed the crowd, protestors called for him to join them, but he later informed journalists that he had to decline because the protest was not a permitted demonstration.

“I’d be willing to walk with them,” Payne told journalists, MLive reported. “This is an unpermitted demonstration. If they wanted to organize, then we can sit and talk about that, how that can be done.”

One protestor, Rayna Johnson, said that she was surprised when she came to the protest on Monday because of the police barricades.

“It’s really terrifying, and I think we should all be scared of it,” Johnson told MLive. “We’re not marching for anything insane, we’re marching for human rights, and for it to be met with military presence speaks a lot to the fundamental problems within our system.”