Boone County Democrats update guidelines following confrontation at protest
Mitchell Kaminski
COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)
Since March, members of the Boone County Democrats have spent their Saturday mornings protesting.
But after an incident in late November, the group is now emphasizing peaceful engagement and safety.
The group began protesting in front of the offices of U.S. Sens. Josh Hawley and Eric Schmitt, later moving to a location near Broadway and Stadium Boulevard in Columbia for greater visibility. The size of the crowds have varied. Last weekend, seven people stood on Stadium Boulevard, but Boone County Democrats Chair Deborah Finley says the crowds have been as large as 75.
“What we’re protesting is the ability to speak out, to see people and have people see us so they can see that there are people that are out there that’s not agreeing with what’s happening and that they feel free to speak up as well,” Finley told ABC 17 News.
Finley said the response has generally been positive, though the group has experienced several incidents, including one where a full water bottle was thrown and struck a protester in the head.
“We get a lot of honks and waves. We can see that many, many people agree. We’ll have a few people who will drive by in big trucks and blow smoke on us, or they’ll yell at us from their cars,” Finley said. “We’ve only had two instances where somebody actually came through the line and started hassling the protesters.”
One of those incidents was caught on camera on Nov. 22. Video ABC 17 News obtained video showing a man going up to protestors while recording video on his cellphone before getting into an argument with a woman about illegal immigration. After another protestor held up a sign in his face and he slapped the sign out of her hand, which landed in the street.
The man then continued to walk down the row of protestors, calling the protestors “ignorant” and “stupid” before putting away his phone.
“You’ll notice in the video that you saw posted, it’s a lot of older people,” Finley said. “So this was a young man coming through a crowd of older people, intimidating and harassing them.”
The incident prompted the group to reflect on its protest guidelines and update them to “support safety and accountability at upcoming events.”
“After this last incident, we decided to sit down and really explore more closely how we could ensure that we keep our people safe. It’s important that people have the ability to speak up and to protest, but not at the point where they could become in a dangerous situation,” Finley said. “So we decided to write up specific guidelines for the protesters that says do not engage in any manner whatsoever. I’m sure when you saw the video, you could see people were trying to argue with him. We’re telling them do not engage at all.”
According to Finely, the group notifies Columbia police the morning of every demonstration, with each event being logged with an incident number, which they keep on hand if any issue arises.
In an email to members, Finley also asked protestors to avoid engaging with counter-protesters, back off the sidewalk if someone approaches looking for confrontation, and not to block drivers’ view with signs and flags at the center of intersections.
Other measures include adding a third “peacekeeper” to each rally and scheduling additional training sessions to ensure volunteers are well prepared to support safety. The training is done locally with another session set at Wilkes Boulevard Church on Dec. 21.
Lead organizers will also be wearing body cameras to document any future incidents for “transparency and protection.”
“We will have body cameras on our protest leaders. And we have two protest leaders. We’re now going to establish a third leader who will be specifically trained in peacekeeping,” Finley said. “Some of us have gone to the peacekeeping training. I have not yet. But what the peacekeeping training teaches you is how to not engage and how to deescalate a situation. You’re going to escalate the situation. If you keep arguing with someone, you are not going to change their minds.”
Finley says the Nov. 22nincident was the first time police showed up at one of the protests. CPD told ABC 17 News in an email that the group “normally protests at the courthouse and that is outside CPD’s jurisdiction.”
However, Finely said that is not the case and believes that CPD had them confused with the “No Kings” rallies at the courthouse, which many of their members also participate in.
ABC 17 News reached back out to CPD for further comment.
The Boone County Democrats say they plan to continue protesting through the end of the year, with more planned for next year.
“There is no feeling of stopping them,” Finley said. “We are not going to let intimidation make us stop voicing our opinion.”