Halsey among protestors shot at and gassed by police as she shares horrific account from frontline of Black Lives Matter demonstration
Halsey said she was struck by rubber bullets as riot police laid fire on Black Lives Matter demonstrators. (Twitter/Alberto E. Rodriguez/Getty Images)x
Police officers “gassed” and “fired” at bisexual singer Halsey last weekend (May 30 and 31) as she joined protesters in Los Angeles, California, to stand in solidarity with the Black Lives Matter movement.
Thousands of demonstrators thronged the roads of the city to protest against white supremacy and police brutality after the death of George Floyd.
Anger felt towards the death of the 46-year-old Black man under the knee of a white Minneapolis officer on his neck has boiled over into the now week-long protest.
Protesters and riot police clashed in multiple neighbourhoods of Los Angeles, turning Beverly Hills and West Hollywood into pitched battle scenes shrouded in tear gas. Officers, Halsey’s footage showed, hurled gas canisters and pelted protesters with rubber bullets.
.@Halsey attends the #BlackLivesMatter protest in LA where policemen were shooting rubber bullets at protesters.
— Pop Crave (@PopCrave) May 31, 2020
Halsey, 25, claimed she was struck by a rubber bullet in Santa Monica and even tended to the wounds of a man whose face “exploded” after being hit by the projectile.
Joining her in the crowds was fellow musician Ariana Grande who, too, decried the excessive police force and urged people to stand in solidarity with the Black Lives Matter movement.
Halsey claims that police ‘gassed and fired’ at peaceful protesters.
The “Without Me” hitmaker shared photographs of Los Angeles Police Department officers with the caption: “Fired rubber bullets at us.
“We did not breach the line. Hands were up. Unmoving. And they gassed and fired.”
fired rubber bullets at us. we did not breach the line. hands were up. unmoving. and they gassed and fired. pic.twitter.com/K8YauF0APn— h (@halsey) May 31, 2020
Rumours heaved online that officers arrested Halsey, to which she reassured her 12 million followers that she was safe.
“I WAS NOT ARRESTED,” she wrote.
I WAS NOT ARRESTED.
Im safe. There were ppl I had to get to safety as many of them have VISAs. Myself + many of my peers were shot, gassed + antagonized. The frontline was calm + did not provoke
BUT MANY ARE NOT SAFE + MANY ARE IN CUSTODY
DONATE TO BAIL ORGS!!!
I AM CURRENTLY— h (@halsey) May 31, 2020
“I’m safe. There were people I had to get to safety as many of them have VISAs.
“Myself and many of my peers were shot, gassed and antagonised. The frontline was calm and did not provoke
“BUT MANY ARE NOT SAFE and MANY ARE IN CUSTODY,” she added, before rallying for people to donate to organisations raising money to bail out arrested protesters.
Singer bandaged man hit with rubber bullet who ‘looked like his entire face had exploded’.
Halsey skewered police, facing criticism over use of excessive force, for responding with even more force. She wrote in two tweets: “WHO ARE YOU PROTECTING?”
WHO ARE YOU PROTECTING? pic.twitter.com/o9LtDZRknG— h (@halsey) June 1, 2020
WHO ARE YOU PROTECTING?? pic.twitter.com/Pc306OCiKO
— h (@halsey) June 1, 2020
Major thoroughfares were snarled by thousands of demonstrators and lines of police and cruisers, and the clashes continued deep into Saturday evening and Sunday. Throughout, images of police firing rubber bullets in efforts to disperse protesters became familiar sights.
Halsey stressed people not to “underplay” the pain caused by rubber bullets, describing how she tended to the wounds of a man whose face, she said, “exploded” on impact with the rubber-coated projectiles
do not underplay these rubber bullets bc you have been told they are “not lethal”. I had to bandage a man who looked like his entire face had exploded today. So before you say, from the comfort of your home, that we’re exaggerating, please consider the injuries some have suffered— h (@halsey) June 1, 2020
They are used by authorities around the world to disperse crowds.
Halsey: ‘I don’t know how to articulate the horrors of today.’
On Sunday night, as city buildings smouldered and glowed, Halsey reflected on the “horrors” she witnessed that day.
“We don’t have enough medics on the ground on our side.
“I was treating injuries I am not qualified to. So much blood spilled,” she said, urging those with medical backgrounds to join demonstrators.
And if you’re a white ally who is gonna stand and shout and antagonize the officers and NG and then hide behind black bodies when the shots start firing, fuck you. You couldnt understand a shred of the bravery of the black folks at the front line. Thank you to everyone who stayed— h (@halsey) June 1, 2020
“And if you’re a white ally who is gonna stand and shout and antagonise the officers and [National Guards] and then hide behind Black bodies when the shots start firing, f**k you.
“You couldn’t understand a shred of the bravery of the Black folks at the front line. Thank you to everyone who stayed.”
And fucking listen to the black people speaking. You are not there to speak over them. If they are venting their pain and anguish out loud do not speak over them. Allies are there to help when help is needed. Not take control of the narrative. there’s enough of that already.— h (@halsey) June 1, 2020
Moreover, she shared tips to fellow protesters on what supplies should be brought onto the front-lines.
Alcohol, disinfectant, gauze for excessive bleeding, non stick gauze pads and medical tape, eye pads, butterfly bandages, cold packs, neosporin, bandage scissors, tweezers and ace bandages. https://t.co/p7UAuq5f8e— h (@halsey) June 1, 2020
When an explosive eight-minute and 46-seconds-long clip of a handcuffed Floyd dying as officer Derek Chauvin dug his knee into his throat was shared on social media early May 26, the US has bristled with tension since.
Chauvin was fired and arrested, but it did little to tamper the ensuing violence. Black Lives Matter members kneeled, chanted and pushed against police in an open challenge towards institutional racism.
People walk past a store in downtown Santa Monica on May 31, 2020 in Los Angeles, California.. (Warrick Page/Getty Images)
Some 15 States have sent the National Guard to squash the surging riots, bubbling to surreal scenes of protests and violence against boarded-up and shuttered shops, emptied by the coronavirus pandemic.
Protests have spilt onto the streets of major cities across the world, from London, England to Berlin, Germany, all the while around 140 protests erupted across the US last weekend.
