Head of Austin's NAACP believes protest was offensive

The head of the Austin NAACP is speaking out about yesterday's "Black Lives Matter" protest where things got out of hand.

Images of Saturday's Black Lives Matter protest haunt Austin NAACP President Nelson Linder. He’s one of many who wanted a peaceful demonstration.

“You've got some folks who will be totally peaceful, other folks are going to be provocateurs it happens all the time,” said Linder.

Demonstrators shut down Interstate 35 as they marched. They then went the Congress Avenue and 11th Street.

“What are you getting by doing that? You might shut it down but there are also consequences,” said Linder.

“They started down 10th Street and the whole time the police were following them,” said Adrian Coleman, “Black Lives Matter” demonstrator.

Linder has been Austin's NAACP President for 15 years. He says the “Black Lives Matter” movement means well, but this was not the way he hoped to see the protest unfold.

“Black Lives Matter is a very legitimate political movement, you're being heard, you're being respected. You don't want to risk that.

Linder says the message can be lost with the all lives matter movement.

“Nobody's saying all lives don't matter, we're saying as black people our experiences are full of injustice this is nothing new,” said Linder.

Chief Art Acevedo says six were arrested, a small number compared to dozens of demonstrators. Linder says the only way to prevent violence from erupting is to have conversations in the community before things get out of hand.