Downtown Protests Greet U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions

More than 100 protesters gathered outside the SunTrust Center at Ninth and
Main streets Wednesday morning for a visit from U.S. Attorney General Jeff
Sessions, who was speaking to an invitation-only crowd of law enforcement
and media representatives.

Sessions, a former Alabama senator, didn’t walk past the protesters, and
it’s unclear when and how he entered the building for the 10 a.m. event.
The crowd had gathered by about 9:30.

The Republican is under pressure from some Democrats and progressives to
resign, because of his contacts with Russian diplomats during the
presidential election. In his confirmation hearings, he said that he had
none, but it later emerged that he met with the Russian ambassador
twice.

Sessions recused himself from investigations into Russian interference with
the election, but the protesters and others called for his
resignation.

Lt. Gov. Ralph Northam is among them. Northam, who is running for governor,
joined the protest outside briefly. Democratic legislators also attended,
including General Assembly members Rosalyn Dance, Delores McQuinn and Jeff
Bourne, also calling for Sessions’ resignation.

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Richmond Chief of Police Alfred Durham attended the Sessions meeting
inside. Sheriff C.T. Woody’s office said he was invited as a regional
public safety partner, but his schedule did not permit him to attend.

Mayor Levar Stoney’s office said that he was not invited and did not meet
with Sessions.

The office of Virginia Attorney General Mark Herring confirmed that Herring
also wasn’t invited to the event and noted that Herring has “worked
extremely well with [Department of Justice] and the U.S. Attorneys in
Virginia on gun crimes, heroin traffickers, and more.”

Claire Guthrie Gastañaga of the Virginia chapter of the American Civil
Liberties Union addressed the crowd outside, asking members to engage with
the local attendees of the meeting.

“People should demand that what he’s saying in there be public as well,”
she said. “Because we have a right to know what he’s telling law
enforcement in Virginia about how they’re supposed to do their jobs.”

According to Gastañaga, members of the Virginia State Police also were in
attendance.

She spoke against Sessions’ policies of law enforcement toward immigrants
and his track record on police. “I’m just here to stand in solidarity with
people concerned about the way the Justice Department is being operated
under Sessions,” she said.

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