Student-Led Protest Planned For Verona: Black Lives Matter

VERONA, NJ — A student-led “Rally For Justice” is being planned for Verona on Saturday, June 13 in support of the Black Lives Matter movement.

Participants plan to depart the bandstand at Verona Park at 1 p.m. and march on Bloomfield Avenue to the Civic Center. (Learn more here)

The lead organizers, a pair of Verona residents who recently graduated Verona High School, described the event as “a walk for Black Lives Matter to celebrate the life of George Floyd and all the other POC that lost their lives to police brutality.”

The Verona Police Department said its officers will be walking in the march.

“We support their effort and commitment to make the world a better place,” the VPD wrote in a social media post, adding the hashtag #BlackLivesMatter. “We encourage all of Verona to come out and LISTEN - we certainly will be.”

Bloomfield Avenue between Lakeside and Grove will be closed on Saturday from 12:45 to 3 p.m., police noted.

Saturday’s rally will be the second, high-profile demonstration involving the usually quiet Verona Park in as many months.

In May, hundreds of hairdressers and barbers from across New Jersey rallied for a "peaceful photoshoot" at the park. Clad in black for solidarity and wearing face coverings, the participants had a simple message: Let the state's salons and barbershops get back to work.

• See related article: Fed-Up NJ Hairdressers, Barbers Rally In Verona: 'Let Us Reopen'

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