ALBUQUERQUE – Hundreds of people marched peacefully Monday night in downtown Albuquerque a day after a similar protest against the death of George Floyd while in police custody in Minneapolis preceded the setting of dozens of small fires and other damage in New Mexico’s most populous city.
There was a heavy police presence as the crowd that gathered Monday evening near the University of New Mexico marched in rain while chanting “I can’t breathe,” with some climbing on top of a police substation as the crowd passed.
The crowd began to disperse around 10 p.m. and most had left by midnight.
Mayor Tim Keller said agitators for violence were to blame for the fires and other damage that occurred hours after Sunday evening’s largely peaceful protest march in Albuquerque.
Keller said dozens of guns were looted from at least one gun shop and that there was damage to numerous locally owned coffee shops, breweries and restaurants along the Central Avenue corridor. He said he was grateful no one was seriously injured.
