Pacific Beach Walk for Equality draws hundreds
Hundreds of people gathered at Crystal Pier for the Pacific Beach Walk for Equality on June 14 to show their support for the Black Lives Matter movement and to protest police brutality.
Many participants marched with signs and many wore masks in accord with San Diego County health guidelines against the coronavirus.
The Walk for Equality followed a similar event the previous weekend and a march June 13 in which a diverse crowd of several hundred walked through the streets from Pacific Beach Community Park to Bonita Cove.
Hundreds of surfers and other supporters of the Black Lives Matter movement gathered June 6 at Tourmaline Surfing Park in north Pacific Beach for a Paddle for Peace event to honor the life of George Floyd, whose death in police custody May 25 in Minneapolis has sparked protests throughout the country against racial injustice and police brutality.
With protests being held throughout the San Diego area and worldwide in recent weeks following the death of George Floyd during an arrest by Minneapolis police May 25, Pacific Beach local Kai Phillips, who set the Walk for Equality in motion, said he felt “the momentum from last weekend to this weekend was very consistent.”
“I feel that it was very successful,” he said. “I think we had such a good turnout of our neighbors and community members.”
The protesters marched in a large loop from Crystal Pier east on Garnet Avenue onto Ingraham Street and turned around on Grand Avenue to head back to the pier, drawing honks of support from many drivers along the route.
The San Diego Union-Tribune contributed to this report.