10 Arrested as Movement For Black Lives Takes on Police Unions

Update, July 20, 2016, 2:01 p.m. ET:

Ten activists were arrested at the action in New York City. Their charges and bond amounts have not yet been released, but a bail fund has been set up here.

While the nation continues to grapple with the fallout of police violence, three of the organizations that make up the Movement for Black Lives have just launched protest actions aimed at the law enforcement industry groups that they feel make it nearly impossible to hold officers accountable for violence enacted on the bodies of Black citizens.

In Washington, D.C. this morning (July 20), members of Black Youth Project 100 (BYP100) and Black Lives Matter-DC (BLM-DC) have assembled outside the legislative office of the national Fraternal Order of Police (FOP). Activists are demanding that officers who are interested in justice stop paying dues to the FOP; they are in hour three of the action.

“By protecting the worst among them and ardently opposing legislation that promotes police transparency and accountability, the FOP has affirmed that they are more interested in maintaining a corrupt culture of policing than ensuring public safety,” April Goggans of BLM-DC said in a press release sent to Colorlines. “This is why we are calling for all police officers to disavow their ties to the FOP by refusing to continue to fund this nefarious organization. Who do police officers call after they maim or murder civilians? The FOP. It’s their support that keeps justice from being served.”