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The Unlawful Assembly was declared earlier due to protesters attempting to pull down the J.E.B. Stuart statue with rope, which could have caused serious injuries.

— Richmond Police (@RichmondPolice) June 22, 2020

Richmond police responded to the scene Sunday night when demonstrators blocked an intersection on Monument Avenue and climbed atop the bronze statue depicting Confederate general J.E.B. Stuart on horseback. The protesters tied ropes around the monument, but it was only when they \"began throwing bottles at officers\" that an unlawful assembly was declared, according to the Virginia State Police, which tweeted that it \"responded to disperse the rioters.\"

No injuries were reported, police said.

When protesters blocked JEB Stuart intersection, climbed atop & secured ropes to the statue, @RichmondPolice responded. Only when protesters began throwing bottles at officers was Unlawful Assembly declared. #VSP responded to disperse the rioters. NO injuries reported. https://t.co/at679eRWtl

— VA State Police (@VSPPIO) June 22, 2020

The Richmond Police Department described an unlawful assembly as \"whenever three or more persons assembled share the common intent to advance some lawful or unlawful purpose by the commission of an act or acts of unlawful force or violence likely to jeopardize seriously public safety, peace or order.\" The police force has reportedly made several unlawful assembly declarations in recent weeks amid citywide civil unrest in the wake of George Floyd's death.

\"PHOTO:
Salwan Georges/The Washington Post via Getty Images, FILE
PHOTO: A statue of Confederate General J.E.B. Stuart, is photographed at the center of Stuart Circle along Monument Avenue, Aug. 25, 2017, in Richmond, VA.
>

Floyd, an unarmed and handcuffed 46-year-old Black man, died in Minneapolis on May 25 shortly after a white police officer was filmed kneeling on his neck as three other officers stood by. The incident has sparked demonstrations across the nation and abroad against racial injustice and police brutality.

Protesters have pulled down several controversial statues in Richmond since Floyd's death, including ones depicting Christopher Columbus and Confederate president Jefferson Davis. Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam has vowed to take down Richmond's monument of Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee as soon as possible and put it into storage, but a court order has indefinitely blocked his plans to do so. The 60-foot-tall statue, among others on the city's Monument Avenue, has been vandalized with graffiti.

\"PHOTO:
Eze Amos/Getty Images
PHOTO: This photo taken on June 20, 2020, shows a silhouette of a man with his fist in the air at the Robert E. Lee monument in Richmond, Virginia. Protesters for racial justice have called for statues of Confederate leaders, like Lee, to be taken down.
>

Meanwhile, Richmond police have been criticized for deploying chemical irritants and rubber bullets to disperse protesters, including one incident on June 1, when officers reportedly fired tear gas at a peaceful group of demonstrators about half an hour before the mayor's mandated curfew went into effect.

Last week, two days after local advocacy groups sent a letter raising concerns over the \"escalation of violence against protesters,\" Richmond Mayor Levar Stoney announced that the city's police chief, a white man, had stepped down from his post at his request. Stoney named Maj. William \"Jody\" Blackwell, a Black man, as interim chief of the Richmond Police Department.

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