Photo: Getty Images
Mari Copeny, an activist widely known as "Little Miss Flint," is speaking out after chaos erupted during a Flint City Council meeting.
On Monday (June 2), police were called to remove protestors from a city council meeting as frustrations grew over delays in improvements to Flint's drinking water system and settlement payments.
Copeny, who attended the meeting to express the community's frustrations, shared footage of tensions swelling into violence upon police arrival. Video shows authorities and residents violently shoving and pushing each other.
In a statement, Flint Police Chief Terrance Green said the officers were "attacked" by citizens at the Flint City Council meeting.
“Flint police officers are upset after being attacked by some citizens while at the special city council meeting,” he said. “They are confused and frustrated by a city councilman that joined the unruly crowd by berating and insulting officers for doing their job.”
Copeny shot back at the police's response, saying, "The gaslighting is insane."
“Today during a peaceful protest the mayor decided to weaponize the police against the people,” Copeny wrote on social media. “Not a single law was broken but at least 2 of our elders were pulled out [of] cars. Here in Flint, when there is a shooting, we can barely get a single officer to come, but the entire department, plus the Michigan State Police, shows up to bully peaceful protestors.”
Prior to Monday's meeting, police allegedly threw an elderly man to the ground during another peaceful protest over the state of Flint's water crisis.
The council was attempting to meet a midnight deadline on Monday to approve the city's budget. Before the chaos erupted, Copeny spoke out about growing community frustrations over improvements to the city's water system.
“When it comes to issues dealing with the youth here, I do not trust that you have our best interest at heart or even know where to begin to help the youth of this city,” the teen activist said.
Copeny said she's witnessed elected officials “behave worse than toddlers,” which is “ridiculous, especially when we have so many issues that need to be handled, including the water crisis that is still not over and a crime rate that is through the roof.”
The 17-year-old also called out delays in police response to emergencies in her community.
“But somehow [on Sunday] the mayor and the police chief were able to weaponize both Flint police and the state police against peaceful protesters, many of them residents of our community, resulting in them assaulting an elderly resident,” she said.
“Why is it when we call 911 for help, help never shows up, but when the mayor calls, there can be dozens of officers ready to harass and assault the residents?” Copeny concluded. “Why is it when so many in our community are suffering, the people we elected to represent us act like they don’t care about us?”
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