'Black Lives Matter' protesters refuse to let fans into NBA game after police shooting
Protesters in Sacramento formed a human chain around the Golden 1 Center on Thursday, blocking entrances and preventing many fans from seeing the Kings defeat the Atlanta Hawks.
The protest outside the NBA arena was part of a day of overall unrest in Sacramento. Demonstrators started at City Hall before moving onto and blocking freeways at rush hour, thus backing up traffic in all directions for miles.
The protest finally made its way to the arena, where the start of the game was postponed due to the chaos outside, according to SB Nation.
The protests were a reaction to the recent police shooting of a 22-year-old black man named Stephon Clark, who was in his grandmother’s backyard when he was shot. What police originally believed to be a gun on Clark’s person turned out to be a cell phone.
The demonstrations brought to mind the 2015 protests in Baltimore over the death of Freddie Gray. Due to the unrest in the city, the Baltimore Orioles were forced to play a game in front of an empty Camden Yards. In Sacramento, unlike in Baltimore, the protests did not descend into riots.
However, that’s not to say they were completely peaceful, as the mob knocked down several security gates and yelled things like, “Let us in!”
Protestors have now made their way to @Golden1Center where the @SacramentoKings are playing the Hawks tonight. They’ve knocked down some of the security gates & are chanting “Let us in!” #StephonClark pic.twitter.com/jLRGWK47xZ
— Frances Wang (@FrancesWangTV) March 23, 2018
Police concluded that no good could possibly result from people attempting to force their way in, and thus a lockdown was declared.
Even though some fans made it into the game before the arena was locked down, the Kings were forced to issue refunds to those who purchased tickets for the game by official means, as they had asked fans who were unable to get into the arena to go home.
“Tonight’s game began with a delay,” the team said in a statement. “Due to law enforcement being unable to ensure ticketed fans could safely enter the arena, the arena remains closed and we ask fans outside to travel home.”
As a result, the inside of the arena looked almost as empty as that Orioles game nearly 3 years ago. The Kings posted no highlights to their Twitter account despite winning the game 105-90.
But a still shot of Frank Mason, who was the man of the match with a strong all-around performance, revealed the plethora of empty seats:
Frank Mason put in a strong performance for the @SacramentoKings with 16 PTS, 8 AST, 7 REB!
SAC wins it over @ATLHawks 105-90 at home.
Justin Jackson: Career-high 20 PTS, 4 3PM#SacramentoProud pic.twitter.com/sAlbmCvZ7k
— NBA (@NBA) March 23, 2018
Following the game, Kings owner Vivek Ranadivé addressed the “crowd.”
https://twitter.com/SacramentoKings/status/977045714902466562
“On Sunday we had a horrific, horrific tragedy in our community,” Ranadivé said of the recent shooting. “And on behalf of the players, executives, ownership, and the entire Kings family, I first of all wanted to express our deepest sympathies to the family. What happened was absolutely horrific and we are so very sorry for your loss.”
He went on to say that he respects the right protesters have to “protest peacefully.”
“(W)e at the Kings recognize your ability to protest peacefully and we respect that,” he said. “We here at the Kings recognize that we have a big platform. It’s a privilege but its also a responsibility. It’s a responsibility that we take very seriously. And we stand here before you all young, black, white, brown and we are all united in our commitment.”
“We recognize that it’s not just business as usual and we are going to work really hard to bring everybody together to make the world a better place stating with our own community and we’re going to work really hard to prevent this kind of tragedy from happening again,” Ranadivé added.
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