Knox News: “Nearly three years after a group of Knoxville activists were arrested during their demonstration for police accountability, a Knox County jury will decide whether to embrace or reject Tennessee’s recent attempts to criminalize peaceful protest.
Four demonstrators, including activists Constance Every and Calvin Skinner, are on trial on charges they disrupted a public meeting in 2021 following the police shooting death of 17-year-old Anthony Thompson Jr….
The case is the first tried under Tennessee’s enhanced penalties for disrupting public meetings. The law was part of the Tennessee General Assembly’s push to punish “unruly” demonstrators who arose as part of a nationwide police reform movement that started when a Minneapolis police officer killed George Floyd in 2020.”