On Tuesday, June 9, organizers with the Columbus Freedom Fund, a local bail fund that has received a great amount of support amid the George Floyd protests in Central Ohio, released information on protesters that have been released and protesters whose bail has been paid by the fund.
According to the Columbus Division of Police, 92 protesters were arrested between May 29 and June 2. (A list was released, to much dismay, by CPD on its social media pages. The list has since been removed.)
The group says six Black protesters were arrested during that time frame who were not on the department’s list.
That makes a total of 98 protesters who were arrested, however all protesters are currently out of jail “as far as we know,” they said.
Also according to the group:
- 73 protesters were released with no bail.
- 14 protesters were released on $79 bail.
- 4 protesters were released on $104 bail.
- 2 protesters were released on $1,085 bail.
The fund was able to pay the funds of one of the protesters on $104 bail, as well as six more protesters with bail ranging from $1,085 to $25,249.
In total, the group paid $47,805 in bail for those protesters, all of whom are Black.
On Sunday, City Council President Shannon Hardin and Councilmember Elizabeth Brown both called for protesters charged with violating curfew and “failure to disperse” to have their charges dropped.
“First Amendment rights are paramount, and this past week has been a profound and historic display of those rights in Columbus,” said Brown in a statement. “We should not police free speech, and people certainly do not need to face penalty by their government for exercising theirs.”
Find more information on the Columbus Freedom Fund via Instagram and Twitter.