Organizers Postpone Peabody Protest

PEABODY, MA — A group that had been planning to hold a demonstration in downtown Peabody Thursday has decided to hold off for now.

"I just spoke with Mayor Ted Bettencourt regarding our event this Thursfday. After careful consideration of some of the risks associated with the current event as planned, we have decided to POSTPONE this demonstration," Nicholas Blaisdell of Peabody for Racial Justice said Tuesday in a Facebook message. "By postponing the event, we will have the twofold benefit of increasing community participation and promoting a safer space for all to join."

Peabody for Racial Justice had scheduled the demonstration in response to last week's death of a black man in custody of Minneapolis police. The were billing it as a peaceful protest that would have been confined to city sidewalks. The group had been working with Peabody police and Bettencourt's office.

"We are aware that a member of our community has planned a protest for this Thursday afternoon. We are in communication with this individual and have been working on the details of this gathering," Peabody police said in a statement earlier on Tuesday. "We are also working with city officials and our law enforcement partners on every level to put a plan in place for a safe and peaceful event."

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Monday marked the seventh night of protests in U.S. cities over the death of George Floyd, a handcuffed black man who died Memorial Day in the custody of the Minneapolis police. While Sunday's rally in Boston ended with looting clashes between protesters and police, there have been peaceful protests in several Massachusetts cities, including Salem.

Blaisdell said he and Bettencourt were working to organize "a remembrance event for the life of George Floyd and for the need for racial justice in our country." He said the event would be held in "the upcoming weeks and will be held in a place where public safety can be better protected and social distancing can be achieved."

News of the planned protest prompted a widespread debate among Peabody residents on social media Monday and Tuesday.

"This isn’t about white vs black, this is about Police brutality and the injustice toward colored people," Jona Rivera, one of the protest's organizers, wrote in a Facebook group for Peabody residents. "Our officers in Peabody are amazing and stand against Police brutality. I applaud them for caring about this social topic that they will like to be an example."

While many Peabody residents applauded the protest, others worried about violence and questioned whether it was safe for protesters to gather during the ongoing coronavirus crisis.

"Great then the looters will come out. My son has to get to his part time job as a college student and drive through town," Michelle Gaudet wrote in response to the Peabody police Facebook post on the rally. "No worries we will think of a way to go around the protestors in a pandemic. We citizens are used to be tossed to side."