Third straight day of Floyd-related protests in Walhalla

After one hour, Walhalla’s third protest in as many days wound down when the sky darkened, thunder sounded, and raindrops began to fall.  But both Black Lives Matter supporters as well as opponents got in their say–much of it in chants by about 35-45 marchers and responses those chants elicited by a pro-Confederacy group.  In all, the numbers may have been equal; there were also a large number of curious onlookers.  The police kept a presence and it appeared that everyone obeyed calls to avoid cursing or other conduct that the city could have deemed disorderly.  The protest started in front of the courthouse, but a decision was made to march about three blocks to the W. Main civil war monument.  That appeared to catch city officials by surprise.  Perhaps the major moment was when some of the protesters walked from the W. Main sidewalk across the street and engaged their opponents up close.  Their opponents had formed a ring around the monument, an action they took to protect the monument from possible damage.  Of the much that was uttered and yelled, there were a couple of comments from both sides that eventually there needs to be a calming so that people of strong differences can begin to talk things out.  And Police Chief Brinson assured one protester that’s exactly what his department will try to do by scheduling a community forum.