So I'm working on something on my computer and stop at noon to have lunch when I hear some chanting outside. I look out my window and see a large crowd gathered in the State Street Smiles parking lot on Ward St at the northern end of State St and recognize right away that it's a George Floyd/Black Lives Matter rally............but why there?
Shoot first and ask questions later.
People seemed to be pouring in from Ward St and State St and the "E" municipal lot filled up with cars, so I kept shooting. I checked online and saw that a rally was planned to start in the Sears parking lot at noon and march to the Courthouse at 1pm. So why was a gathering happening at this comparatively obscure location? Did it replace the Sears rally or was it to join it for a massive march down Main St? I get the feeling that Sears got negated, but I could be very wrong.
Anyway, I continued to shoot and shortly before 1pm, the crowd a block away from me began to march down State St. It made a left on Passaic St and from there, I'm guessing it went down Main St to the Courthouse.
The first picture was taken at 12:39pm when the State St Smiles lot was full and people were still arriving. The second shot was taken at 1:00 pm after they started marching down State St. The third shot was taken at 1:04pm when I saw that they had turned east on Passaic St.
What happened after that, I have no idea. Perhaps others have that information, but I have more photos from later on as the people came back to the E lot with their signs (it involves a lot of yelling from my window).
I'll wait until the march and the Courthouse info is posted.
Click to enlarge.