The Cumberland County District Attorney’s Office will not pursue charges against 32 protesters who took part in a Black Lives Matter demonstration in Portland in June.
Portland police made 22 arrests the night of June 1st for failure to disperse. Another ten were arrested the following night.
Police were seen on video being pelted with rocks and bottles, but District Attorney Johnathan Sahrbeck says there’s no evidence that the individuals who were arrested were connected to violence against police. Sahrbeck says it would be “unfair and unjust to treat all members of a group as perpetrators of a certain act based solely on their associations.”
Sahrbeck said the arrests alone had the desired effect of dispersing protesters who were becoming disorderly, and there will be no charges.