Actress Jaime King has been arrested while participating in a Black Lives Matter protest in Los Angeles, California.
The 41-year-old actress announced on Tuesday night that she was in custody using her Twitter account.
King was taking part in a protest with 2000 other people who had gathered outside Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti’s home in Hancock Park. The protestors were demanding that the mayor lower the vast budget of the Los Angeles Police Department.
King insisted that the gathering was 100 percent peaceful.
She allegedly tweeted about her arrest as she was handcuffed in the back of an LAPD vehicle. She wrote: “Currently arrested for a peaceful protest. Writing in handcuffs in back of bus. EVERYONE WAS PEACEFUL. – Jaime and the rest of my sisters on this bus. 77th precinct.”
Currently arrested for a peaceful protest. Writing in handcuffs in back of bus. EVERYONE WAS PEACEFUL. – Jaime and the rest of my sisters on this bus. 77th precinct.
— Jaime King (@Jaime_King) June 3, 2020
Jaime King was still in an LAPD van 4 hours after arrest
At approximately 1 AM Pacific Time on Wednesday morning, King sent a follow-up tweet where she said that herself and her fellow prisoners were still in the police vehicle, where they had already been imprisoned for four hours.
King claimed officers had taken them from the 77th Precinct to San Pedro Women, where they were being held with no access to bathrooms, medicine, or sanitary products. She also stated that the officers were “laughing” at them.
Currently still on the bus for over 4 hours. Took us from 77th precinct to San Pedro. Women w/no access to vital meds, bathrooms, bleeding through their pants. They are laughing at us. #BlackLivesMattter
— Jaime King (@Jaime_King) June 3, 2020
The protest was organized by the Los Angeles branch of the Black Lives Matter movement, which has been conducting demonstrations across the nation in the wake of the death of African-American George Floyd at the hands of white police officers in Minneapolis.
Riverdale actor Cole Sprouse has also been arrested
The arrest of King comes shortly after Riverdale actor Cole Sprouse was also arrested while at a peaceful demonstration in Santa Monica.
According to Sprouse, he was protesting with a number of other people when cops arrived to tell them their protest was illegal. Sprouse wrote on his Instagram feed that the police initially informed them they had the option to leave but then blocked their path and arrested the group.
In discussing the incident on Instagram, he stated he did not want the media narrative to be about him, and the arrest but rather the focus needed to be on the Black Lives Matter movement.
Many celebrities have spoken out about the recent protests following Floyd’s killing, including basketball legend Michael Jordan, who, in a rare foray into political matters, condemned police brutality and called for more racial harmony.
Actor and comedian Nick Cannon has also penned an essay where he called for a “new normal,” a total reform of the police force, and for police officers to be renamed “peace officers.”