Detroit protest leaders list ending Project Greenlight among 11 demands for Mayor Mike Duggan

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Leaders of the Detroit protest group, Detroit Will Breathe, have listed 11 things they want the city of Detroit to do to make the streets safer for everyone.

Protest co-organizers Tristan Taylor and Nakia Wallace, who recently formed the organization Detroit Will Breathe, are meeting with Mayor Mike Duggan Tuesday to discuss the list of demands collectively drawn up by the movement against police brutality. 

Below are the 11 demands they took into their meeting with Duggan.

1. Defund and Demilitarize the Police
2. End Project Greenlight and Facial Recognition
3. Drop All Charges and Citations received by protestors
4. Do not carry out eviction orders
5. Drop the uneven citations received by Detroiters during the stay at home order
6. End "consensual" sex between Police Officers and those under custody (Legally define all sex in custody as rape)
7. Prosecute and fire any Police Officer involved in police brutality
8. Do not criminalize homeless people
9. Make Detroit A Sanctuary City
10. Create an Independent Office for Disabled Citizens
11. Restore and maintain running water for all Detroiters

Detroit Will Breath said it voted Monday to prioritize the 11 demands in the meeting with Duggan and that he has the immediate authority and direct influence over those items.

Duggan and Chief James Craig weren't in favor of everything offered on the list. Craig doesn't agree with the push to "defunding the police" and believes the police department has a good relationship with the community. However, the mayor did say he was interested in removing the cash bail system, which some argue is discriminatory toward people with low wages. 

While Detroit Police have been outfitted in tactical gear during early nights of unrest when protests were more unhinged and violent, both the protesters and the city's law enforcement have operated peacefully the last six days. Duggan decided not to renew the city's curfew which was initially put in place to discourage "outside agitators" from causing problems later at night.

There are 13 other items that the movement to fight for but the 11 above are the primary ones they want to address.

1. Release all non-violent offenses
2. Residency requirement that all DPD officers live in Detroit
3. No use of rubber bullets/ military tactics
4. Decriminalization of all recreational drugs
5. Return residency requirement for DPD
6. Substantial investment for mental health and substance abuse victims
7. More punitive charges against officers who hide badges
8. Duty to intervene for other officers
9. Abolish foreclosures
10. End police union funding of DA office
11. Drop all charges against all protestors
12. More accessible structures for police accountability
13. Care for juveniles instead of jailing

The protests started across the country two weeks ago when George Floyd died when a Minneapolis police officer kneeled on his neck for 8 minutes and 46 seconds. 

George Floyd will be laid to rest Tuesday in Houston.

Over the past 11 nights, protesters have lined the streets of Detroit to demonstrate against police brutality. Late Monday night, they marched to the site of the infamous killings that sparked the rebellion in the summer of 1967.

The fight took a stop at the site of the old Algiers Motel on Woodward and Virginia Park. That's where three black unarmed teens - Carl Cooper, Aubrey Pollard, and Fred Temple were killed during the 1967 rebellion. The three white officers accused of killing them were exonerated. 

That was where they heard from more seasoned activists who urged them to keep things going, to keep marching and to keep fighting. One of them told the group that at 11 days they had people nervous and at 111, they will make them afraid.