Photos From Missoula’s Demonstrations at the Courthouse

Peaceful protests and gatherings of locals displaying signs of support for the Black Lives Matter movement and protesting the death of George Floyd began at the Missoula County Courthouse in the last week of May, and were still going strong as of June 8th. Demonstrators' signs displayed the many names of members of black communities across the nation who have been murdered at the hands of police, and included demands for holding police responsible for their actions. Approval and agreement was bountifully shared by downtown drivers honking and shouting encouragement from their windows.

As similar protests have swept the country, changes are already being made and actions taken, including the arrest of the four former Minneapolis police officers involved in George Floyd's murder, and redistributing of police funds to social work and other programs in Minneapolis, where George Floyd's death occurred. While protesting and demonstrations have proven to effective in some ways, it's also heartbreaking to see kids being pepper sprayed, the elderly being shoved to the ground and large crowds of protesters being tear gassed.

Missoula protests have been seemingly peaceful, although there is a horrid account of an attack against an African-American local that is making the rounds on social media. And you saw the disgusting incident that took place when 51-year-old Jay Snowden was charged with disorderly conduct after violently disrupting a peaceful protest in Whitefish, here is the photo from that incident with Samantha Francine that went viral. Here are some photos of what we witnessed at the Courthouse on Friday, June 5th, thank you to our photographer, Emily Lynn.