Public Safety

FunnyMaine Talks About New Monument, How Second Protest Happened

Jermaine "FunnyMaine" Johnson, Birmingham native and comedian involved in Sunday night’s protest over the Confederate monument in Linn Park, said Wednesday that whatever replaces that monument should represent what Birmingham is all about — "unity, strength, resilience." He called for the removal of the monument during an earlier rally in Kelly Ingram Park but did not foresee the response that his call would receive. Read more and watch two videos.

by Tom Gordon

Woodfin Adds Exception to Demonstration Ban

Mayor Randall Woodfin has walked back his total ban on public gatherings and demonstrations in Birmingham, allowing permitted demonstrations in one park in the North Avondale neighborhood. In a statement released Wednesday afternoon, Woodfin said his office would allow permitted demonstrations to take place from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. in W.C. Patton Park, at 1200 Sipsey Street. “We want to balance the right to assembly with the absolute need for public safety,” Woodfin said in the statement. Read more. More stories on the protests in Birmingham: Curfews Imposed Across Birmingham Area Over Protests Jefferson County Sets Curfew to Curb Violence Confederate Monument Taken Down in Linn Park Cleanup Begins After Looting Damages Downtown Birmingham Businesses Birmingham Protestors Vandalize Downtown Buildings, Try to Take Down Confederate Monument

by Sam Prickett

Jefferson County Sets Curfew to Curb Violence

Following the lead of Birmingham and other municipalities in the metro area, the Jefferson County Commission today implemented an emergency curfew to thwart violent, destructive acts like those seen Sunday night. “This coincides with the curfews of many of our municipalities,” Commission President Jimmie Stephens said at an emergency commission meeting, “and is an effort to unify our response to this crisis.” Read more.

by Solomon Crenshaw Jr.

Confederate Monument Removed From Linn Park — Mostly

All that’s left of the Confederate memorial in downtown Birmingham’s Linn Park is a graffiti-covered base. The obelisk was taken apart and loaded onto a flatbed truck Monday night, a day after it sparked protests and looting of nearby businesses. Mayor Randall Woodfin had promised to remove the monument by Tuesday to stop any more of the violent reactions like those seen Sunday night. Read more. More on the protests in Birmingham Confederate Monument Taken Down in Linn Park Birmingham Mayor Sets out Curfew from 7 p.m. to 6 a.m. Cleanup Begins After Looting Damages Downtown Birmingham Businesses Birmingham Protestors Vandalize Downtown Buildings, Try to Take Down Confederate Monument Protesters Gather in Birmingham to Honor George Floyd

by Virginia Martin

Confederate Monument Taken Down in Linn Park

A controversial Confederate monument in downtown Birmingham's Linn Park was taken apart and loaded onto a flatbed truck Monday night, a day after it sparked protests and looting of nearby businesses. Mayor Randall Woodfin promised to remove the m0nument by Tuesday to stop violence in Birmingham's downtown, and heavy equipment was moved into the park Monday evening. The top of the obelisk was down by about 10 p.m., and the second of three sections was removed shortly after 11 p.m. By 2:30 a.m., the third section was gone, meaning the full obelisk was gone and workers were left with the base of the statue. Read more.

by Virginia Martin and Tom Gordon

Mayor Says Confederate Monument Will Be Removed From Linn Park

Birmingham Mayor Randall Woodfin has vowed to remove a controversial Confederate monument from Linn Park “as soon as possible.” That decision, which results from violent protests that erupted in downtown Birmingham Sunday night, would violate state law and likely trigger a lawsuit from the State of Alabama. That’s a cost Woodfin said he is “willing to accept… because that is a lower cost than civil unrest in our city.” On Sunday night, demonstrators protesting the police killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis began defacing the monument, chipping away at its base with shovels and unsuccessfully attempting to pull it down with a rope and a pickup truck. By end of the night, it had been covered in spray-painted slogans; its engraved quote from Jefferson Davis was painted over with a scrawled “Black Lives Matter.” Read more.

by Sam Prickett

Cleanup Begins After Looting Damages Downtown Birmingham Businesses

Dozens of people took brooms and shovels in hand Monday morning in the aftermath of looting that plagued downtown Birmingham in the continued outrage over the police killing of an unarmed black man in Minneapolis. Private citizens and professionals cleaned up broken glass at storefronts from Park Place south to Third Avenue North. The historic Alabama Theatre was among the structures that were damaged. To combat a potential repeat of what happened Sunday, Woodfin declared a state of emergency in Birmingham today and enacted a curfew for 7 p.m. Read more.

by Solomon Crenshaw Jr.

Birmingham Mayor Sets out Curfew from 7 p.m. to 6 a.m.

Birmingham has once again been placed under curfew — though this time, the curfew is intended to quell civil unrest, not COVID-19. The curfew is a response to Sunday night’s violent protests, Mayor Randall Woodfin said. Those demonstrations, which were ostensibly to protest the May 25 death of Minneapolis man George Floyd at the hands of police officers, turned angry as protestors in Linn Park defaced a controversial Confederate monument and, tried to set fire to a statue of Thomas Jefferson, and deface two monuments to post-confederacy military workers outside the Jefferson County Courthouse. Pockets of the protest looked more like riots as they spilled over into the north side of the downtown area, Birmingham Police Chief Patrick D. Smith told reporters Monday that 14 businesses had been burglarized, while another 13 businesses “had significant damage — property damage, looting, broken windows, and things of that nature.” Fire Chief Cory Moon added that his department had responded to 22 fire calls Sunday night as a result of the protests. Police also reported 24 arrests among the protestors. Read more.

by Sam Prickett

Birmingham Protestors Vandalize Downtown Buildings, Try to Take Down Confederate Monument

Protestors who gathered for a demonstration in Linn Park on Sunday night defaced monuments in the park and, as they left, smashed windows and vandalized buildings along downtown streets and set several fires. Police, who had taken a hands-off stance even as the protestors defaced monuments in Linn Park, moved in after the crowd began its destructive trek through downtown. It was unclear after midnight how many people were still downtown or the extent of the damage. Several hundred demonstrators had gone to Linn Park after an earlier, peaceful protest in Kelly Ingram Park.¬ Jermaine “FunnyMaine” Johnson, a local comedian, during the first rally, dubbed “Birmingham the World is Watching Rally for Justice and Peace,” had told the crowd he was going to Linn Park to topple the Confederate Soldiers and Sailors monument there. That’s what the crowd attempted to do, using a truck and cords. That was after they had defaced it by spray painting messages and taking out chunks with implements such as shovels. But the monument still stood. Birmingham Mayor Randall Woodfin later gave the crowd his word that the statue would be gone in 24 hours. Read more.

by Tom Gordon and Virginia Martin

Birmingham Protestors Turn on Confederate Monument

UPDATING — Protestors as they were leaving a protest in Linn Park have begun vandalizing downtown buildings and have set fire to buildings at and near the People's Bank. Fox6 News was showing video of protestors setting fires, smashing windows of the Wells Fargo building, and looting the Alabama Power Co. museum. Police are moving into the area in force. A crowd of several hundred protestors attacked the Confederate monument in Linn Park on Sunday night. The protestors tried to topple the monument using a truck and chains, and earlier they defaced it by spray painting messages and taking out chunks with implements such as shovels. As the crowd became more rowdy, defacing or toppling three other monuments in the park, Birmingham Mayor Randall Woodfin arrived and asked people to peacefully disperse, but the crowd shouted him down. After Woodfin talked with protest organizer Jermaine “FunnyMaine” Johnson, a comedian, and Jefferson County Commissioner Sheila Tyson, who also was leading the protest, Johnson asked people to disperse and the mayor said the crowd to give the city 24 hours to remove the monument itself. Johnson said that if the monument isn't removed by Tuesday morning, protestors will return at noon. Taking down that monument could be tricky since the state has a law banning the removal of historic monuments. Read more.

by Tom Gordon