Black Lives Matter protests peacefully through Ybor City streets

TAMPA — Black Lives Matter protesters peacefully marched a zigzag pattern through Ybor City streets Saturday, temporarily blocking the area's main drag and calling for improved relations between police and the communities they serve.

Dozens of Tampa police in regular uniform walked the same route as protesters, blocking off streets with their bicycles, which steered protesters away from major thoroughfares. Protesters chanted as diners and passers-by whipped out their smartphones to document the scene.

"And if we don't get it!" one protester on a megaphone shouted.

"Shut it down!" the crowd yelled back.

The diverse crowd, which organizers said peaked at about 300, did shut down Seventh Avenue for a few minutes by sitting down on the pavement. But police reported no arrests, property damage or injuries. Besides a few tense moments, the march was peaceful.

Before and after the march, the group rallied at Centennial Park.

"We're saying to this city, to this state and to this nation: Black Lives Matter is here to stay!" the Rev. Charles McKenzie, co-chairman of Tampa for Justice, said into a megaphone.

Jeronica Byrd, 37, of Tampa, said she came out to learn what the Black Lives Matter movement's next steps are.

"If we don't come up with something, people are going to continue to die," she said. "That means people in blue and that means people of color. … The police have to accept their role in the rift in the community."

A.R. Williams, 31, of St. Petersburg, said that he was looking to get "just more information about how we can change things, instead of just stating our outrage on social media."

The crowd heard from two Democratic candidates for U.S. Senate: Pam Keith of Miami, and U.S. Rep. Alan Grayson of Orlando.

Grayson gave a brief speech, saying that it was up to the living to make sure people of color shot by police didn't die in vain. He mentioned Andrew Joseph III, the 14-year-old who was ejected from the Florida State Fair in 2014 by Hillsborough County sheriff's deputies and died trying to cross Interstate 4.

After his speech, Grayson touted yet-to-be-introduced legislation that would make federal funds for police contingent on departments establishing civilian review boards.

As Grayson was talking with reporters and took some jabs at his main primary opponent, U.S. Rep. Patrick Murphy, Keith, confronted Grayson about him missing the Hillsborough County Democratic Black Caucus candidate forum earlier in the day.

Grayson blamed his absence on the late arrival of his flight to Orlando on Friday night, making it impossible to attend. Keith said he just didn't want to appear at the same event as her, which would attract attention to her candidacy.

"The plan is to make sure nobody knows they have an option named Pam Keith," she said. "They (voters) simply don't know there's an African-American woman running who has a strong platform."

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Later, Keith addressed the crowd, calling for local governments to do more to address police misbehavior and use of force.

"This isn't about justice for the next shooting," she said. "It's about preventing it in the first place."

Contact Jack Suntrup at jsuntrup@tampabay.com or (727) 893-8092. Follow @JackSuntrup. Contact Samuel Howard at showard@tampabay.com or (813) 226-3373. Follow @SamuelHHoward.