LEXINGTON, Ky. _ Multiple groups held protests, marches and rallies in Louisville Saturday around the running of the Kentucky Derby, including groups calling for justice in the shooting death of Breonna Taylor.
A heavily armed group of people, some carrying American flags and Donald Trump banners, had gathered at Carrie Gaulbert Cox Park, saying they were there to show support for police. Dylan Stevens, who calls himself "the Angry Viking," told members of the media that "Louisville citizens asked us to be here."
That group, which called themselves "American patriots," moved to downtown to Jefferson Square Park by early afternoon, where there were tense exchanges with protesters demanding justice for Taylor.
The armed group moved on just before officers with the Louisville Metro Police Department arrived carrying sticks.
The police department said in an early afternoon update that because of the large crowd, they "determined it was not safe to go in and we did not want to escalate the situation with police presence."
"As the tensions subsided and the groups began to move together down Jefferson toward Second Street," police said they brought officers in "to create a barrier across Jefferson to separate the two groups."
Police said they have deployed most of their resources to the area around Churchill Downs "because of the large-scale protests anticipated" near the track.
Groups including the Justice and Freedom Coalition and Until Freedom, which had called for boycotts of the Derby, said they planned to gather at 4:30 p.m. at South Central Park for demonstrations.
The Black militia NFAC, meanwhile, gathered at G.G. Moore Park.
