Protesters shut down the AMC Patton Creek movie theater in Hoover on Sunday evening and threatened to take to schools and police officers’ homes in the city next, in the wake of the shooting death of E.J. Bradford at the hands of police on Thanksgiving.
Led by protest leader Carlos Chaverst, Jr., a small group of “Black Lives Matter” protesters forced the theater to stop selling tickets for the night at approximately 7:00 p.m. and even sent away potential movie-goers by telling them “the theater is closed,” according to Alabama Media Group reporter Anna Beahm‘s live tweeting of the protest.
The protesters also escalated their rhetoric against law enforcement from previous protests when they blocked traffic on Highway 31 and heckled the neighbors of Mayor Frank Brocato. This time around, the protesters called police officers “terrorists” and “klansmen.”
They also doubled down on their harassment of black police officers on the scene. Last time, they told one officer in particular that his daughter “could be next.” On Sunday, three black officers bore the protesters’ ire.
“At the end of the day, you’re still a ni****,” Chaverst told the officers, saying he was quoting rapper Jay-Z. “House ni****, field ni****, whatever it is, you’re still ni****. Black folk, remember that.”
Chaverst threatened that if the video of the Riverchase Galleria shooting is not released by noon on Monday, “we gunna shut the whole city down.”
He later admitted that their goal was to make the city go “broke.”
“We gunna be at the school, we gunna be back here at the movie theater, we gunna be at the police department, we gunna be at your house,” Chaverst said, addressing the line of officers guarding the theater. “I know where you are, too – all your houses.”
He then singled out one officer whose name he knew and said, “Sorry, buddy, but until the video is released we’re coming to your house, too. All of ya, we coming to all ya houses.”
Chaverst, a little later, even started trying to prove he actually knew where the officers lived, naming street names and neighborhoods.
“I know exactly who y’all are, we coming out there,” Chaverst told the officers, outlining that they would go to the different cities that the Hoover officers resided in, as well.
This followed Chaverst’s comments from the beginning of the protest, when the movie theater would not permit them to protest inside and asked officers to help enforce this request.
“This looks like racism to me… the new Klan,” Chaverst claimed.
He added, “Guess what, we’re gonna come to all of your homes, we’re gonna come to all of your schools, we’re gonna come to every single place we need to until the terrorist on this police department is identified.”
Chaverst said that all officers are “aiding and abetting in a terrorist act.”
Watch Chaverst’s live stream of the protest (WARNING – explicit language):
Sean Ross is a staff writer for Yellowhammer News. You can follow him on Twitter @sean_yhn
