(AllHipHop News) The impact of Kendrick Lamar’s latest LP To Pimp A Butterfly is reaching beyond just music. Participants at the “Black Lives Matter” conference in Cleveland began chanting the chorus to the album single “Alright” after police detained a 14-year-old boy for alleged public intoxication.
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Activists from around the country convened in Cleveland for the conference. According to reports, the event ended on Sunday with police officers pepper spraying attendees.
The 14 year old was taken into custody by the Greater Cleveland Regional Transit Authority after allegedly being discovered drunk on a city bus. Other officers as well as protesters from the nearby conference arrived at the location, and the situation escalated.
Authorities say protesters attempted to block a squad car with the teen from exiting which led to Sgt. Robert Schwab to administer pepper spray into the crowd.
#happeningNow #M4BL protesters pepper sprayed in #Cleveland @mvmt4bl pic.twitter.com/9JyFCp2vMq
— Kenny (@KentaviousPrime) July 26, 2015
“They begin to form a barricade around the car urging the police to let the young man go, but they wouldn’t and when they were linking arms and doing chants, one of the police officers began pepper spraying the whole line,” said conference attendee Destinee Henton. “They were on the ground covering their faces. He was still spraying them toward the ground so that’s when more people started coming out.”
Consequence of Sound reports witnesses at the scene claim the cops slammed the teenager to the ground. In response, Cleveland State University students and other protesters shouted, “We gonna be alright.”
“Folks were asking what is going on? Why are you trying to arrest this young man? All of us just saw what happened to Sandra Bland in Texas so forgive us if we are a little concerned,” said juvenile justice consultant and member of the Cleveland Eight Edward Little.
The teen was eventually released to his mother. The incident is under investigation.
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Watch video of the protesters reciting Kendrick Lamar’s “Alright” lyrics in the video below.