Group plans for peaceful protest Saturday in downtown L.V.

By Ricardo Torres-Cortez

Friday, July 15, 2016 | 2 a.m.

Organizers of a protest scheduled for Saturday in downtown Las Vegas plan for a peaceful demonstration in response to the killings last week of black men by police in Louisiana and Minnesota.

The protest will be 5:30 p.m. to 9 p.m., starting at 400 Stewart Ave. and heading toward Fremont Street.

“We’re letting people know: If you’re coming to be rowdy; if you’re coming with anger in your heart; if you’re just coming to be an overall nuisance, please stay away from the movement,” said Christian Baughman, one of the organizers.

Nationwide protests have been staged following officer killings of Philando Castile in Falcon Heights, Minn., and Alton Sterling in Baton Rouge, La. At the end of a Black Lives Matter protest in Dallas, a lone sniper, reportedly not affiliated with any movement, gunned down 14 people, including 11 police officers, five of whom were fatally wounded.

Black Lives Matter Las Vegas, which isn’t affiliated with the national movement, is trying to voice support after the killings of Castile and Sterling.

“In light of these recent situations last week, we really decided it was time to rally together,” Baughman said.

Baughman said the response from the likely attendees, people of all ages and races, has been positive. The movement doesn’t want to exclude anyone. The march won’t be so much about protesting local law enforcement, which Baughman described as being “really mellow and generally very calm” compared to other cities, but to protest overall injustices.

“Our movement doesn’t have anything against Metro Police because we realize how great of a police force we actually do have, because truthfully it could be a lot worse,” Baughman said.

Metro has vowed to protect demonstrators and their First Amendment rights, department officials have said.

“We understand the right to protest. ... We’re going to protect that right,” Capt. Rich Fletcher said this week.

But he added, “That’s until they start breaking the law.”

Several protests have broken out locally. All ended peacefully. The most notable disturbance took place during a North Las Vegas vigil on Saturday evening.

The vigil intensified when about 100 demonstrators blocked the Martin Luther King Boulevard and Carey Avenue intersection. Though some demonstrators shouted at officers and initially refused to move, police were able to shift the crowd to the sidewalks without the use of force.

Black Lives Matter Las Vegas has not been linked with previous protests, Baughman said.

“The reality of it is, Vegas doesn’t do a lot as far as the movement, so we wanted to try to do something like this and make it bigger,” Baughman said.