KANSAS CITY, Mo. — At least a dozen people arrested during this past weekend's demonstrations were from "out of town," or more than an hour's drive from Kansas City, according to police.
Thousands of demonstrators have been on Kansas City's streets following the death of George Floyd in Minneapolis.
According to the Kansas City, Missouri, Police Department, the overwhelming majority of them have been peaceful, making their points and then leaving.
But a smaller number of people are now facing criminal charges — all misdemeanors for mainly disorderly conduct and failure to obey, with one exception of a felony drug possession charge.
According to KCPD, officers made 151 arrests from Friday through Sunday associated with the demonstrations, but only five of them on Friday.
KCPD noted several of the arrested people also were legally armed.
Kansas City Mayor Quinton Lucas said he supports the rights of peaceful protests and wants to hear what the demonstrators say.
"What I don't think is something that we need is folks that are coming here to engage in some level of criminality," he said.
According to KCPD, most of the damage was to buildings, businesses and vehicles around the Country Club Plaza area.
Several police vehicles were damaged and spray painted, and one was burned completely.
A 41 Action News vehicle also was burned during the protests.
"We've had about 13 police cars receive about $85,000 worth of damage," KCPD Chief Rick Smith said.
According to KCPD, 20 officers were injured over the weekend. Two of them were hit by flying objects and required hospitalization.
One officer was treated for a head injury, and another one for a pierced liver.
Smith said that altogether, officers have needed about $100,000 worth of medical attention.
KCPD also reported almost all of the officers on the demonstration lines were struck with flying objects, such as rocks and bottles, at some point over this past weekend.
Smith said the problems happened after the curfew when people were told to leave.
"Everyone was told it was an unlawful assembly. At that point, when we started getting bottles hurled, rocks hurled, that's when we used our chemical munitions," he said.
The 41 Action News Investigators also reached out to the FBI and the Southern Poverty Law Center to see if any fringe group members might be involved in this past weekend's vandalism and violence.
An FBI spokeswoman said she had nothing to report at this time.
So far, the Southern Poverty Law Center has not replied to our request for comment.
