Fresno City Council will consider protest demands ahead of police budget hearings
The Fresno City Council next week will hold a budget workshop to consider the demands made by Fresno State’s National Association for the Advancement of Colored People at the “We Can’t Breathe” protest.
Council President Miguel Arias announced the workshop will take place June 11, where the Fresno State NAACP and community leaders will present policy changes for the council to consider. The workshop will take place before the June 15 budget hearing for the Fresno Police Department.
“This public workshop will be the first of several steps we will take to ensure the death of George Floyd and so many others is not in vain,” Arias said in a news release.
Following the police killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis, nearly 3,500 people protested at Fresno City Hall and marched to Fresno Police Department headquarters. The protest was organized by Fresno State NAACP, which made 10 demands to reform the police department and improve living conditions for the black community.
Since then Police Chief Andy Hall reached out to the NAACP chapter president, D’Aungillique Jackson, pledging to take action. Jackson and other organizers also were scheduled to meet with Mayor Lee Brand.