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Omaha Police Department releases timeline of last weekend's protests

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Posted at 4:45 PM, Jul 29, 2020
and last updated 2020-07-29 18:16:11-04

OMAHA, Neb. (KMTV) - The Omaha Police Department released a timeline of events from last weekend's protests.

Police say at 7:30 p.m. Saturday, officers were stationed near the protest at Turner Park near 30th and Farnam streets and did not interfere at the park.

According to police, the lieutenant supervising the event received information that protesters may be carrying shields, and some type of action from the group was going to occur in 30 minutes.

At 8:40 police say a group of 150 to 200 left the park and were seen walking eastbound in the westbound lane on Farnam Street and appeared to be occupying all lanes, which OPD notes is against the law.

Starting at 8:50, a sergeant requested a cruiser to begin making announcements to the crowd regarding the unlawful assembly.

Police say more announcements declaring the gathering an unlawful assembly and warning that all were subject to arrest if they failed to disperse were made between 8:50 and 9:35.

At 9:37 the sergeant at the scene yelled that the group would be arrested 12 times.

The first arrest made was at this point, Mark Vondrasek. Police say he ignored the verbal commands and rode his bike at the officers resulting in pepper balls being deployed.

Police say on-scene command then made the decision to book the involved parties into jail out of fear that disturbances and potential further criminal activity would continue in the downtown area if they were cited and released.

Police say a review of the protest is ongoing.

Read the full timeline from police below.