March and rally in Marietta to protest the killing of George Floyd

Speaker with bullhorn at Black Lives Matter demonstration in MariettaDemonstration in Marietta to protest the killing of George Floyd by Minneapolis police (photo courtesy of Amy Barnes)

Amy Barnes provided the Courier with video footage and still photos of the peaceful demonstration in Marietta Sunday afternoon to protest the death of George Floyd at the hands of Minneapolis police (watch the video below).

Barnes wrote to the Courier:

Cobb County almost never has protests – today, hundreds of people showed up to protest in honor of George Floyd and to seek redress regarding racial disparities in treatment of citizens of color by the police and courts.

I participated in the march and rally to film and to protest charging and sentencing disparities between defendants of color and white defendants. Through my work as a criminal defense paralegal, it is shocking, saddening, and gut-wrenching what is happening to families across Cobb County and other Metro-area counties.

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It is time for change, and today’s protest was part of the continuing effort to seek redress and lobby for changes to laws, policies, and judicial processes, and to demand changes to the roster of who fills the ranks in our police departments.

Several protesters reported to me that they felt fearful of police brutality, and the organizer afterwards announced that she had coordinated with the county police department to ensure that no violence would come upon the protesters, so long as the protest remained peaceful.  There was no looting, no damage, no litter, and plenty of free expression.


Cobb County and Marietta police cordoned off roadways to accommodate the hundreds of people marching from the Cobb County Police Department headquarters to Marietta Square for a rally and then marching back to Cobb County Police Headquarters for a second rally before the protest ended.

Watch the video from Amy Barnes

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