A look back at summer of anti-police violence protests in Utah

Salt Lake Tribune photojournalists spent weeks documenting demonstrations in Utah.

(Francisco Kjolseth | The Salt Lake Tribune) Hundreds march in downtown Salt Lake City and wave signs from cars on Saturday, May 30, 2020, to protest the death of George Floyd, the man who died at the hands of Minneapolis police officer. Derek Michael Chauvin, the police officer who kneeled on his neck, was convicted of murder.

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Paighten Harkins

| May 25, 2021, 5:00 a.m.

| Updated: 11:33 a.m.

The first protest in Salt Lake City around George Floyd’s death wasn’t May 30, the day when hundreds rallied near the downtown police headquarters and the Capitol, and the governor declared a state of emergency after marchers flipped a police car and set it on fire.

It was a much smaller gathering the day before, outside the First Unitarian Church. Just a handful of people held signs. Sometimes cars honked as they passed. Photojournalists from The Salt Lake Tribune were there.

The next day, Tribune photojournalists captured the unrest downtown. They spent much of the summer documenting the protests that followed. The scenes were often tense; Sometimes protestors were met by armed groups.

Photographers captured impromptu ballet performances and activists spreading red paint to symbolize the blood spilled by state violence. They also documented the tensions — and at times violence — that broke out between police and protesters and counter-protesters.

Here’s a look back at the summer through the lens of Tribune photojournalists:

(Trent Nelson | The Salt Lake Tribune) People protest police brutality, holding signs up to passing traffic in front of the First Unitarian Church in Salt Lake City on Friday, May 29, 2020.

(Leah Hogsten | The Salt Lake Tribune) Landon Daniel Buttars, 21, and Emanuel "Mani" Hill, 21, are pulled apart Black Lives Matter protest in Cottonwood Heights in August. Five days after after nine protesters were arrested during a rally in memory of Zane James that turned into a violent clash with Cottonwood Heights officers, demonstrators gathered outside the police station Friday to denounce CHPD’s actions and its officers for inciting the violence.

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Paighten HarkinsReporter

Paighten is an Enterprise reporter at The Salt Lake Tribune. She covers a variety of topics, including business, health, growth and the legal justice system — sometimes all at once. She is from southern Oklahoma, and lived and worked in the state, most recently at the Tulsa World, before starting at The Tribune in October 2017.

A look back at summer of anti-police violence protests in Utah

Salt Lake Tribune photojournalists spent weeks documenting demonstrations in Utah.

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A look back at summer of anti-police violence protests in Utah

Salt Lake Tribune photojournalists spent weeks documenting demonstrations in Utah.

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