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Philly City Council members call for police to stop using tear gas and rubber bullets

The use of force against peaceful protesters "has brought shame to Philadelphia," four Council members said.

Tear gas is fired at protesters who were marching on the Vine Street Expressway on Monday, the third day of protests in Philadelphia in reaction to the killing of George Floyd by police officers in Minneapolis.
Tear gas is fired at protesters who were marching on the Vine Street Expressway on Monday, the third day of protests in Philadelphia in reaction to the killing of George Floyd by police officers in Minneapolis.Read more / File Photograph
    by Laura McCrystal
    Updated 
    Published 

Four Philadelphia City Council members called Saturday for police to stop using tear gas and rubber bullets.

“As policymakers who help craft and approve the police department budget, we ask that the city and the police department prohibit the use of tear gas, rubber bullets, pepper spray and other weaponry during today and future demonstrations,” Councilmembers Kendra Brooks, Jamie Gauthier, Helen Gym, and Isaiah Thomas said in a joint statement.

The statement, issued shortly before a large protest began Saturday on the Benjamin Franklin Parkway, said instances of police using those tactics in the last week have been appalling and unnecessary.

“This brutality has brought shame to Philadelphia and thrust us into the national news cycle for the world to see,” they said. “It is unacceptable.”

A spokesperson for Mayor Jim Kenney declined to comment Saturday afternoon.

The Police Department has faced criticism for using tear gas on protesters on I-676 on Monday. And Staff Inspector Joseph Bologna Jr., a high-ranking police official, is facing charges after video surfaced of him beating a Temple University student with a baton.

Police Commissioner Danielle Outlaw said Friday that police have launched several internal affairs investigations into use of force by officers during protests in the last week. She said some uses of force captured on video appear to be within the department’s policies.