Chants like “We’re going to keep on marching, keep on fighting, fighting up to freedom land,” and “My body, my choice, my body, my choice,” were heard during the evening.

The protests came after a 98-page draft, authored by Judge Samuel Alito and distributed inside the conservative-dominated court, was leaked by the media outlet Politico.

The text cites the historic 1973 Roe v. Wade decision enshrining abortion rights as “appallingly wrong from the start,” and that “should be overturned.”

In Roe v. Wade, the country’s Supreme Court held that access to abortion is a woman’s constitutional right.

On the other side, those who are against abortion celebrated the Supreme Court’s draft opinion.

“We’re happy to see women cared for by not having abortions and, of course, the fundamental right is the right to life and the unborn are humans,” said Tony Stevens with the Pro-life Union of Greater Philadelphia, quoted by Fox29.

Reproductive rights have come under threat in the United States recently, as some states tightened restrictions.

Right-wing politicians have launched an attack on abortion rights, while Democrats are fighting to protect access to the procedure.

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As reported by Jospeh Darius Jaafaris and Cynthia Fernadez from Spotlight, the significant role played by Pennsylvania, in the presidential election has caused Capitol Police to increase security at the complex in Harrisburg.

Gov. Tom Wolf said Thursday that over 450 state National Guard members have been put on active duty to assist Harrisburg and the surrounding community should violence occur.

“While there are no specific threats to the Capitol or the Capitol Complex, we are taking actions out of the abundance of caution, to be prepared in case any situations arise,” Capitol Police Superintendent Joseph Jacob told reporters Thursday.

Officials said they have been following online posts that encourage those who cannot attend an armed march in Washington this Sunday to instead gather in their home states.

“We have no specific intelligence, relative to the Capitol Complex,” Lt. Col. Scott Price of the Pennsylvania State Police said. “There’s a lot of generalized intelligence and we continue to scour various platforms incessantly in an attempt to get a very robust operational picture.”

You can read: Man who carried Confederate flag at Capitol invasion was arrested

The Pennsylvania State Police has a bomb squad and mounted police officers, should violence occur near the complex. Both Capitol and State Police officials said they are treating possible protests like others they have seen in recent months.

Those have included ReOpen PA gatherings criticizing the governor’s coronavirus mitigation efforts and Stop the Steal events, where pro-Trump protesters have claimed election fraud.

Many of those rallies have included militia groups, such as The Three Percenters, whose members were seen storming the U.S. Capitol last week. While there have been tense moments, the events in Pennsylvania have not become violent.

“A chess game”

It has not been an easy task for authorities to figure out with precision potential threats because the usual channels for organizing such as Facebook, Parler, and Gab have either been shut down, removed, or overwhelmed to the point of being unusable.

“Right now, it’s a chess game,” said Harrisburg Police Commissioner Thomas Carter about protests turning violent, adding that the changing right-wing social media landscape has made it more difficult to forecast possible threats.

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The letter proposes guidelines to enhance accountability and transparency of police officers’ actions and demands the elimination of certain tactics, including “sitting or kneeling on a person’s neck, face or head.” They also said that they “cannot accept the proposed $14 million increase” to the police department.

“Philadelphia can’t breathe. In the poorest big city in America, during a global health pandemic and a massive economic crisis, the people of our city are telling us that police reform cannot wait. We must hear them and act decisively,” the letter began.

The Council Member´s recommendations were prompted by the mass protests in Philadelphia and across the country in response to George Floyd´s death.

You can read: Philadelphia police officer charged with aggravated assault is applauded by crowd

The letter was signed by Council President Darrell Clarke, Kenyatta Johnson, Mark Squilla, Jamie Gauthier, Curtis Jones Jr., Maria Quinones Sanchez, Cindy Bass, Cherelle Parker, Kendra Brooks, Allan Domb, Katherine Gilmore Richardson, Derek Green, Helen Gym and Isaiah Thomas.

These are the recommended guidelines:

• Fully resourced, independent police oversight, including authority to conduct contemporaneous, independent review of civilian complaints and use-of-force incidents.
• Establishment of specific criteria for designation of an investigation as internal.
• Expanded reporting of civilian complaints and internal investigations, as well as specific criteria for limitation of information reported.
• Inclusion of community members and outside experts on the Use of Force Review Board (automatically reviews police-involved shootings) and Police Board of Inquiry (hears civilian complaints that are deemed sustained by Internal Affairs investigation). Charging and presentation of cases to both boards by independent civilian personnel. Notification to public of hearing time, location, and subject matter.
• Early warning systems to track indicators of risk for serious misconduct and to enable nondisciplinary remedial action.
• Systematic tracking and reporting of incidents in which officers witnessed the use of inappropriate or excessive force by a colleague.
• Non-punitive peer reviews of serious incidents, separate from criminal and administrative investigations, to identify systemic reforms that safeguard against such incidents. Incidents reviewed should include both incidents causing harm and “near misses.”
• Detailed guidance regarding the circumstances under which firearms may and should be unholstered or pointed. Require reporting of such actions, similar to reporting required for discharge of a firearm.
• Explicit prohibition of sitting or kneeling on a person’s neck, face, or head.
• Systematic reforms to eliminate unconstitutional “stop and frisk.”
• Outside review of police code of conduct to inform the collective bargaining process.
• Inclusion of community representatives and outside experts in any collective bargaining process relating to law enforcement personnel.
• Council and community input, including a public hearing, on any collective bargaining agreement relating to law enforcement personnel.
• Restoration of residency requirements for police personnel.
• A plan to enhance racial and geographic recruitment diversity, with reporting on progress towards plan goals.

The three Council members who didn’t sign the letter are David Oh, Brian O’Neill and Bobby Henon.

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Bologna, who is also charged with reckless endangerment and possession of an instrument of crime, was applauded by scores of supporters including officers in and out of uniform gathered outside of Lodge 5 of the Fraternal Order of Police in a show of solidarity.

In a video on Twitter, the police officer can be seen hitting a 21-year-old Temple University student in the head and neck with a baton, before the student is knocked to the ground and another officer put his knee on him to keep him down. The event occurred during a protest that took place on June 1.

You can read: Philadelphia District Attorney said most looters are not protesters

Bologna has been suspended for 30 days with the intent to dismiss him from the department.

Police Commissioner Danielle Outlaw said Friday that the officer had been taken off street duty pending an internal affairs investigation. Hours later, District Attorney Larry Krasner announced that his office would be charging Bologna with a crime. John McNesby, president of the FOP 5 Lodge, said the union was “disgusted” by that action.

Bologna’s attorney said the officer’s actions were justified because the protests had become violent.

Meanwhile, the support received by the officer has transcended the fact of some applause in his honor.

Officers have organized efforts to help cover Bologna’s legal defense, including a GoFundMe page that had collected more than $22,000 as of Monday morning, The Philadelphia Inquirer reported. The police union also announced on Twitter that it would sell T-shirts saying “Bologna Strong.”

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Philadelphia Mayor Jim Kenney first imposed the curfew Saturday after protests over George Floyd´s death. The African- American brutal killing by the police led to street demonstrations that in many cases resulted in vandalism and looting.

Only people traveling to work at essential businesses or seeking medical attention may leave their homes during the curfew.

You can read: Philadelphia District Attorney said most looters are not protesters

Protestors have demonstrated on the city streets every day since Saturday to demand the end of racism and police brutaliy. City officials responded with plans to form a steering committee to foster reconciliation and healing and address issues long raised by the city’s African-American communities.

Additionally has removed the controversial statue of of former Mayor Frank Rizzo. The statue, located outside the Municipal Services Building, had been vandalized many times in recent years. Activists, politicians and others repeatedly had called for its removal.

Floyd, an African-American man, died after Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin knelt on his neck for nearly nine minutes. Chauvin has been charged with second-degree murder; three other officers also face charges.

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“I think it would be fair to describe most of these as looting cases,” Krasner said in an interview with NBC10 Monday. “They are often situations in which people are caught inside of a store… within Macy’s or at some other location.”

For the looting and burglary, Krasner said it has mostly been 18- to 24-year-olds from Philadelphia in what he called crimes of opportunity. Many of them, he said, were first time offenders.

Police have said they are looking through surveillance and news video to try to identify perpetrators.

You can read: Police search for out-of-town instigators on violence in Pennsylvania

So far, he said, the looting videos have shown different crowds from those protesting.

“They don’t seem to be carrying signs, talking about political issues or talking about police accountability, they don’t seem to have t-shirts on that are political in nature,” he said. “They seem to be committing opportunistic crimes and they seem to be doing it within the context of peaceful protest.”

Police had arrested 429 people as of Monday afternoon, of which 165 had been charged with felonies or misdemeanors, according to city officials.

Police found a few people among the protesters with guns, Krasner said. So his office has charged three people with illegal gun possession charges. One of those individuals charged had a criminal record, including convictions of ethnic intimidation, which Krasner described as “concerning.” The man is also from Philadelphia.

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“We’re in the battle for the soul of this nation, what we believe most importantly, who we want to be is all at stake,” Biden said.

He used George Floyd’s last words: “I can’t breathe,”as a reference to the difficult fight the United States is undergoing. He said those words “didn’t die with him. They’re still being heard. They’re being echoing across this nation.”

Biden added that Floyd´s plea speaks “to a nation where too often just the color of your skin puts your life at risk.”

“We’re not going to let any president quiet our voice, we won’t let those who see this as an opportunity to sow chaos, throw up a smoke screen to distract us from the very real grievances at the heart of these protests,” Biden said.

You can read: Police search for out-of-town instigators of violence in Pennsylvania

He considers the latest events as a path to a sustained challenge. “We can’t leave this moment thinking that we can once again turn away and do nothing, we can’t do that this time. We just can’t,” Biden said. “The moment has come for our nation to deal with systemic racism. To deal with the economic inequity that exists in our nation. To deal with the denial of the promise of this nation made to so many.”

The former vice president called on Congress to pass legislation to outlaw chokeholds by police and to work on reforms toward racial justice.

Biden said the proposed changes cannot wait for his first 100 days in office. He says the president has failed in his duty to care for all Americans.

Biden criticized President Donald Trump for directing authorities to drive back peaceful protesters outside the White House “in order to stage a photo op. ” He said that the President “is more interested in power than in principle.”

“When peaceful protesters are dispersed by the order of the president from the doorstep of the people’s house, the White House , using tear gas and flash grenades , in order to stage a photo op at a noble church, we can be forgiven for believing that the president is more interested in power than in principle,” Biden said.  Trump is “more interested in serving the passions of his base than the needs of the people in his care.”

Biden’s criticism comes a day after Trump threatened the nation’s governors that he would deploy the military to states if they did not stamp out violent protests over police brutality in the wake of the George Floyd killing that have roiled the nation.

“Look, the presidency is a big job. Nobody will get everything right. And I won’t either, but I promise you this. I won’t traffic in fear and division. I won’t fan the flames of hate,” he said.

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“Philadelphia’s a mess. What happened there is horrible,” Trump said. On Sunday, the president tweeted he wanted “Law & Order in Philadelphia, NOW!”

The President’s comment reflects his frustration at the realization that it is not as simple as posting a call for “law and order” on Twitter. The situation in the city is much more complex.

With the same tone of bitter complaint that does little to restore a sense of normality, he referred to Minneapolis

Trump said the “whole world was laughing at Minneapolis over the police station getting burned,” referring to the city where protests began last week.

According to the President, it is all about taking the reins and taming the unrest, otherwise the authorities will look like idiots.

“You have to dominate or you’ll look like a bunch of jerks, you have to arrest and try people,” the president told governors in a call from the basement White House Situation Room.

You can read: Police search for out-of-town instigators of violence in Pennsylvania

The conversation included law enforcement and national security officials. Trump emphasized it was his belief the violence is being brought on by forces from the “radical left”.

“It’s a movement, if you don’t put it down it will get worse and worse,” Trump said. “The only time it’s successful is when you’re weak and most of you are weak.”

The hardline message came as Trump and his advisers were continuing to debate the wisdom of a national address following three nights of violent protests in dozens of cities.

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