DECATUR, Ala. (WHNT) — Decatur activist Terrance Adkins is defending charges he and five others received after a city council meeting Monday night.
The meeting ended abruptly after citizens shouted at council members for not holding police officers responsible regarding the deaths of John Scott Jr. and Stephen Perkins.
The Decatur Police Department said they obtained six warrants after Monday’s meeting.
Adkins, the co-founder of the social justice group Standing In Power, was served with a warrant for trespassing and resisting arrest, but he said he was shocked to learn of the warrant because he claimed he never resisted and was not warned of the trespass warrant prior to Monday.
“I am not a criminal, I don’t have a criminal record, and I don’t do anything outside of protests and try to make sure that my community is safe,” Adkins explained. “It’s just weird that I’m trying to protect my community and the police are not.”
Decatur City Council President Jacob Ladner, who has threatened to shut down council meetings over the use of profanity, said:
“I am trying to stay patient during the public comments period, but we’ve got to have an orderly meeting. We will not tolerate the use of profanity and attacks,” said Ladner.
Adkins told News 19 that the arrest warrants are all part of tactics to silence their peaceful demonstrations.
“The fear tactics that they are trying to use are not working. We will still be out on the streets protesting, we’ll still be calling for justice, we’ll still have people at city hall and we’ll still have meetings at Turner Surles Center,” said Adkins. “We’ll still have all these things in Decatur city because we are taxpaying citizens, and we are law-abiding citizens. Until we get what it is that we demand, we’re not changing direction.”
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