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AUSTIN (Talk1370.com) -- A second day of protests continued into Saturday night in downtown Austin over the deaths of George Floyd and Michael Ramos.
Protesters gathered around noon Saturday at Austin Police headquarters at the corner of 8th Street and Interstate 35. The protesters made their way to the mainlanes of Interstate 35 around 12:45 p.m., blocking traffic for about two hours.
Around 2:30 p.m., crowds began to disperse and head in two groups towards the State Capitol and Austin City Hall. After demonstrations at both sites, some protesters returned to the APD headquarters around 5 p.m., and again took to the mainlanes of IH-35, only to be pushed back by APD and Texas DPS officers.
Crowds continued to build into the evening hours at APD headquarters, with occasional skirmishes between protestors and police. Officers continued to line the sides of IH-35 to try and prevent protesters from getting onto the mainlanes, which continued to only allow one or two lanes of traffic through in each direction.
Throughout the day, crowds had been chanting "black lives matter", "hands up don't shoot", and "I can't breathe," among other chants.
Approximately 12 arrests had been made as of 9:30 p.m., according to Austin Police. Around the same time, a car was set on fire underneath the IH-35 overpass at 8th Street; Austin Fire crews quickly responded to put the fire out. Another fire was set a short time later that was also quickly extinguished.
Around 10:30 p.m., crowds began to move towards 6th Street. At least two businesses were reportedly broken into and looted.
Austin Police Chief Brian Manley commented on the protests on Twitter, continuing to strike a balance between respecting the protest and protecting the community.
Manley said that "we appreciate peaceful protest," but "violence and destruction of property will not be tolerated."
Texas Gov. Greg Abbott said the state has deployed Texas Department of Public Safety troopers into Austin, as well as Dallas, Houston, and San Antonio to maintain public safety. More than 1,500 officers have been sent to assist local police departments, Abbott's office said in a statement. Late Saturday, Abbott activated the Texas National Guard to help respond to protest violence.
"Texas and America mourn the senseless loss of George Floyd and the actions that led to his death are reprehensible and should be condemned in the strongest terms possible," Abbott said. "As Texans exercise their 1st Amendment rights, it is imperative that order is maintained and private property is protected."
Friday night, Travis County District Attorney Margaret Moore's office announced that the Michael Ramos case will be presented to a special grand jury. Ramos was shot and killed by an Austin Police officer following a standoff on April 24; on May 11, Manley revealed that Ramos was in fact unarmed during that incident.
Early Saturday morning, approximately 75-100 protesters demonstrated in an unplanned protest outside APD headquarters. Some of the protesters reporteldy threw water bottles at police; officers used rubber bullets to push the crowd back, and some protesters were arrested. After sunrise Saturday morning, work crews could be seen boarding up the front doors of the first floor of APD headquarters.
Another protest is expected at the State Capitol Sunday afternoon.