Unity and awareness

Peaceful protests continue around Coeur d’Alene

A pair of Black Lives Matter protests in Coeur d’Alene dipped into the evening without incident Thursday, with organizers hopeful their separate events spread messages of unity and awareness.

“I think it’s been a really good response,” Laurali Strong of Coeur d’Alene said near the protest alongside U.S. 95 and Appleway Avenue. “I feel like a lot of people are scared to speak what they believe in, and I think that’s because we have a lot of people here who really don’t care and like to antagonize people for it. I think it’s an opportunity for people to speak up and spread the message.”

The 95-and-Appleway protest brought out approximately 60 supporters of the Black Lives Matter movement, which has gained considerable nationwide momentum since the killing of an African American man last week at the hands of a Minneapolis police officer.

“I want people to know that we are together with them,” Strong said. “I feel like there are so many people of color I know who say they don’t want to come here because they’re nervous of us. I don’t think it’s fair that they have to be scared to go places. I’m not scared to go places, and that’s white privilege.”

The rally lasted into the afternoon, with a small band of counter-protesters — some openly armed — arriving on the opposite side of the highway. Strong and other organizers led rally cries and protest messages against the noise of honking traffic.

As the 95-and-Appleway protest reached its peak, another protest swarmed together. At 2 p.m., organizers of a Black Lives Matter rally quickly swelled once again outside WinCo near Ramsey and Appleway to roughly 60. Online rumors of the WinCo protest brought attention from an armed citizenry claiming to attend in order to prevent civil unrest. Organizer Kyle Fancher, of Coeur d’Alene, said he was not concerned about any potential risk or conflict.

“I’ve been talking to them,” Fancher said. “I know most of them personally. They’re great people. They’re mostly just here to keep the peace.”

Just before 3 p.m., Fancher led the Black Lives Matter protesters down Northwest Boulevard downtown, where that same armed citizenry has patrolled the streets for the past three afternoons and evenings in preparation for possible unrest.

But Thursday’s protests were peaceful and generally calm.

The group that began at WinCo regrouped at Second and Sherman, and marched to McEuen.

Around 4 p.m., first reports of that group being spotted at McEuen Park began to trickle in; by 6 p.m., over 80 protesters were outside City Hall, chanting for change and justice. Between 20 and 30 armed residents — mainly in pockets of two, three and four — kept their distance around the McEuen demonstration, which was still peaceful as of press time.