What I saw was peaceful protesting thrown into chaos by use of excessive police force

My husband and I arrived around 8pm at the Allen County Courthouse for the first day of the BLM protests. We took Clinton Street to get to the courthouse which was blocked off to vehicles by police cars. We met up with friends that told us the police had already fired tear gas rounds. We stood in the courtyard, pretty close to the courthouse, while police in riot gear stood next to at least one armored vehicle in the middle of Clinton Street. Within 30 minutes or so of being there, we could hear a voice on a megaphone but could not understand what was being said. About 2-3 minutes later, tear gas canisters were fired behind us on the left and right side, blocking both our exit points with gas. The canisters landed within 15-20 feet of where we were standing. Everyone had to run through the gas in order to get to safety. My friends and I were on bikes and had to navigate blindly to get away and not hurt ourselves or others. After we were able to find a space to catch our breath, we rode around the courthouse and heard loud pops from either rubber bullets or tear gas being fired (probably both). Some of my friends stayed near the courthouse and had even worse experiences. We stayed downtown until about midnight but stayed away from the courthouse for the remainder of the evening.
My husband and I arrived around 5 or 6pm on Saturday, again on bikes, taking Clinton and crossing the MLK bridge to get to the courthouse. Clinton was again blocked by police vehicles at the MLK bridge. As we got up to the courthouse, we could see police cars and armored vehicles blocking the road further down. The vehicles pretty much lined Clinton Street in front of the courthouse. Almost immediately upon arriving, a line of 30-50 police officers poured into the street in full blacked out riot/swat gear. We heard over a megaphone that it was an illegal protest and people needed to disperse. Not even a minute later, we heard continuous pops, maybe 10-15 in a row. People started running and screaming. One woman passed us and said, “they are shooting more than tear gas, be careful,” and my husband and I decided to ride around the courthouse until we got to the back side on Calhoun Street. Police officers and sheriffs were completely lined around the courthouse with batons and pepper spray canisters in hand. We found our friends, and they explained that police were trying to prevent people from coming close to the courthouse, even though we are supposed to be legally allowed to assemble and protest there. The air was already filled with tear gas, and we saw several people sitting down pouring milk over their faces to try to get some relief. We even saw a couple people being carried away by others because they couldn’t see to get themselves to safety.
We hung around for a while, but the group eventually started shifting and people moved towards the MLK bridge. It seemed like everyone funneled to the front of the MLK bridge at Clinton and 4th Street. This was the largest cluster of people I saw in the two days I was at the protest. IT WAS INCREDIBLE AND PEACEFUL! It was so humbling to stand among so many wonderful people, speaking out against injustices of which the FWPD had just given us a poignant reminder of their aptitude for it. People chanted, sang, danced, and organized. A small group seemed to help lead and instructed everyone over a megaphone on where to go if the police tried to force us out. We stood there for maybe an hour while cars drove by raising their fists out the window and trumpeting their car horns in support. To me, this was what the protests in FW would have been all along if the police had not chosen to incite chaos.
My group left this area for maybe an hour to get food. By the time we got back towards the courthouse, it seemed like all hell had broken loose. Many of the streets were clouded with tear gas, and we struggled to get anywhere. At one point, we came back around towards Calhoun and thought it was safe to ride through. Even though we couldn’t see any smoke in the air, my group got completely choked up by tear gas. We stumbled through the street with several other people. We were all gasping for air with tears streaming down our faces. We got separated from some of our friends, because we were completely blinded and had to wait to regroup. It looked like police were gassing (or maybe pepper spraying) people indiscriminately. They then grabbed and restrained individuals, and we assumed they were arrested from that point. We did not stay close enough to find out. We started leaving downtown close to midnight, and on our way out, a police vehicle passed us while holding up a pepper spray canister out the window in our direction. He didn’t spray it, but we weren’t even close to the courthouse or doing anything other than riding our bikes. There was absolutely no reason for the police to even act like that was okay or lawful. My husband and I had parked our car at the skate park parking lot on 4th Street, and we rode with our group behind the Old Fort to get back. As we got close, a group of people came running from that direction saying the police had tear gassed that whole parking lot and skate park. They said they weren’t even involved in the protests and were just hanging out at the skate park.
Even though my experiences at the protests may be minimal compared to others, I wanted to share what I saw as a means to corroborate others’ stories. What I saw was peaceful protesting thrown into chaos by use of excessive police force, and a general disregard for the citizens who chose to exercise their rights and speak out against innumerable injustices.