A group of Black Lives Matter protesters who wanted to shut down Route 80 fell short of that goal Friday, but still managed to tie up traffic in three New Jersey towns as protesters zig-zagged down streets to bring attention to their calls for racial justice and police accountability.
The plan to shut down Route 80 was nixed from the start. As protesters gathered outside Hackensack Middle School, one said they had to scrap the idea because they had “a 6ix9ine in the group.” That is, a snitch. State troopers were already stationed at the entrances to the highway and protesters were told they’d be arrested if they tried walking onto the road.
It wouldn’t have been the first New Jersey highway shut down because of a Black Lives Matter protests: Hundreds of protesters stopped traffic on Route 4 for about 10 minutes on June 5. But Friday’s gathering in Hackensack was much smaller, about 50 mostly young people vastly overshadowed by the size of the police presence. Officers from the New Jersey State Police, Bergen County Sheriff’s Department and the Hackensack Police Department were stationed at various points along the protesters’ five-mile walk.
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The group marched down Railroad Avenue, up Central Avenue and across First Street as they hollered now-familiar chants: “No justice, no peace;” “No Trump, no KKK, no fascist USA;” “I can’t breathe.” Police cars moving at a glacial pace trailed them. Each time the group turned down a new street, other officers scrambled to keep the roads clear ahead of them.
At the entrance to Route 80 along North Street in Teterboro, a line of state troopers, some wearing riot gear, awaited the protesters. There were a few moments of drama as one protester using a megaphone heckled the officers, but soon the march resumed toward Route 46. There the march stopped, halted by a group of officers who would not let them march farther. Traffic in both ways on the highway halted for about 20 minutes as protesters declined to turn back.
Ainsworth Minott, who led a recent protest in Englewood and helped organize Friday’s march, told officers he did not believe they were all bad cops. But he pleaded with them not to turn a blind eye to police brutality, citing the recent killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis that has led to nationwide unrest. Four now-ex police officers are facing charges related to Floyd's killing.
Minott and a Hackensack police captain spoke briefly before protesters turned back around and headed toward Columbus Park in Hackensack.
“He tried to say, even though that happened in Minneapolis, there’s no cops out here like that,” Minott said. “That’s hogwash, man, stop it.”
Protesters received some positive feedback during their march. A trucker sitting in traffic waiting for them to pass offered a high five. A man standing on a third-floor balcony yelled, “That’s how you do it, guys!” The Rev. Robert Curry and a woman standing outside Mount Zion Baptist Church in South Hackensack offered them a thumbs up.
Curry said he supports the march but disagrees with Minott’s assessment that local police officers clash with the community in a way that mirrors the tension seen in Minneapolis.
“We don’t have any problems. Not like that,” he said.
Terrence T. McDonald is a reporter for NorthJersey.com. For unlimited access to the most important news from your local community, please subscribe or activate your digital account today.
Email: mcdonaldt@northjersey.com Twitter: @terrencemcd
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Hackensack protesters unsuccessful in Route 80 shut down - NorthJersey.com
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