PEACEFUL DEMONSTRATORS GATHERED AT THE RUSHMORE MALL
Connor Matteson
RAPID CITY, S.D. (KEVN) - The demonstration was launched by a newly created Facebook page by Kenny Dirk backing Rapid City Police.
A crowd gathering in front of Rushmore Mall earlier Monday, in support of law enforcement.
The page quickly grew to thousands of members, but by Monday night, that Facebook page was closed down
"I started a Facebook group last night and it was more to just let RCPD and the Sheriffs Office know, you have the community's support and I didn't think it'd do what it did," said Dirk.
The group blew up and people like Tristan began to gather in the Rushmore Mall parking lot offering support to law enforcement.
"It's how I was raised, down south how I was raised, you help out other who are in need and who are in danger," said Tristan.
After watching the violence in Minneapolis, Washington D.C., Sioux Falls, and other cities. The group says they wanted to make sure Rapid City businesses didn't suffer similar fates.
"People are very emotional right now and I've been trying to do my best to calm that. I know a lot of people that are real scared that what happened in Sioux Falls last night is gonna come here and we certainly don't want to do that," said Dirk.
But the gathering brought more than just members of the Facebook group. Rapid City police officer Lt. Andy Becker and Pennington County sheriffs deputies also made an appearance.
"The reason I'm here is us as Rapid City Police Department we want to promote peace, bring our community together, we want all of our community members to be safe and we want to make sure that we are able to do our job," said Becker.
Police say they will support peaceful protests, but if it turns bad then they are ready to step in
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