Ugh.
The Montrose rainbow crosswalk was gone Monday morning after protesters faced off with police as a construction crew started restriping the intersection overnight and some were were arrested, according to the Houston Police Department.
As of 8:15 a.m., fresh pavement had been laid, and police were blocking off the streets leading to the site, where a crew continued working on the roadway.
Four people were taken into custody for blocking the roadway, and charges were pending Monday afternoon, according to Houston police. Police were on scene between 11 p.m. Sunday and 6:30 a.m. Monday, according to the department.
Video footage captured by OnScene TV showed more than a dozen people at the crosswalks at Westheimer Road and Taft Street, with some sitting in the road. Construction machinery towered over them while police tried steering them away from the scene.
Police could be seen a video physically removing two protesters from the crosswalk.
[…]
City Council Member Abbie Kamin, who represents Montrose, said Metro officials told her they’d communicate the timing of the crosswalks’ removal beforehand for the sake of public transparency. She said she instead found out about the roadwork from nearby residents who saw machinery enter the area a few hours in advance.
The Chronicle reached out to Metro for comment.
“This is shameful, Kamin said. “All you have to do is look at the time of night it was removed to know how cowardly this is.”
See here and here for the background. CM Kamin has this exactly right. Not just doing it without notice, but doing it when there hasn’t been any specific threat to anything – complying in advance, always a winner – and when the many political leaders who denounced this were still discussing a response strategy that may involve litigation, is craven beyond belief. Everyone involved should be ashamed of themselves. Gwen Howerton tweeted through the night about it if you want to see some live action footage, and The Barbed Wire has more.