Black Lives Matter PA Calls on DA Seth Williams to Resign
Black Lives Matter Pennsylvania protesters took to the streets outside indicted Philly District Attorney Seth Williams’s Center City office this morning.
Demonstrators gathered near City Hall at 8:45 a.m., shutting down a lane of traffic in the process.
The organization joins several others – like Philly’s Fraternal Order of Police union – in calling on Williams to resign less than a week after he was indicted on 23 corruption charges, including wire fraud, extortion, the use of interstate facilities to promote bribery and honest services fraud.
DEVELOPING: Black Lives Matter demonstrators are blocking a lane of traffic calling for DA Seth Williams to resign. @CBSPhilly pic.twitter.com/GHmNu98KuZ
— David Spunt (@davidspunt) March 27, 2017
Black lives matter protesting outside of DA Seth Williams' office. Demand that he resign. @6abc pic.twitter.com/IE0byXo1oM
— Jeannette Reyes (@msnewslady) March 27, 2017
#BLM protest in front of DAs office right now. @KYWNewsradio pic.twitter.com/Lzp6s1PXfw
— Tim Jimenez (@TimJRadio) March 27, 2017
“Take a Kodak moment,” Asa Khalif of Black Lives Matter Pennsylvania told NBC10. “This is probably the only time you’ll see Black Lives Matter and the FOP in total agreement.”
Williams is accused of accepting gifts in exchange for his willingness to take official action as well as misusing about $20,000 that was meant to pay for his mother’s care in a local nursing home. A number of officials, including Mayor Jim Kenney and all eight DA candidates vying to take Williams’s spot, have also called on the DA to step down.
“At a time when our citizens’ trust in government is at an all-time low, it is disheartening to see yet another elected official give the public a reason not to trust us,” Kenney said in a statement last week. “That this comes at the heard of our justice system is even more troubling. We must all greatly raise the bar for our behavior and show the citizens of Philadelphia that we are capable of carrying out our most basic responsibilities as elected officials, upholding the law.”
Williams hasn’t yet said whether or not he intends to resign – but there are a few (likely financial) reasons why he might not. Williams pleaded not guilty last week and was released on $50k bond.
This story and headline have been updated to specify the name of the group leading the protest.
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