If you’re headed to a Sacramento Kings game anytime soon, you might want to allow some extra time.
For the second time in a week, dozens of activists protesting the shooting of Stephon Clark interfered with the start of a Sacramento Kings game.
Clark was a 22-year-old black man who was shot by Sacramento police earlier this month.
According to the Sacramento Bee, protesters outside the arena shouted, “You ain’t seeing no game tonight. Join us or go home!”
#StephonClark protests resumed outside of Golden 1 Center prior to the Mavs-Kings game pic.twitter.com/Hr6JpFyfQ0
— Kings on NBCS (@NBCSKings) March 28, 2018
According to USA Today Sports:
While the delay lasted about half of last Thursday’s game against the Atlanta Hawks, which spanned 19 minutes, thousands of fans were again stranded outside as entrances were shuttered.
At 7:44 p.m. local time for the game that was scheduled to start at 7 p.m., the Kings announced the doors would remain closed.
The Kings posted a statement to their fans on Twitter:
Public safety measures have been enacted and arena entrances remain closed.
We kindly ask all guests to travel home safely at this time.
Ticket holders unable to access tonight’s game will receive refund information from the team soon.
We apologize for the inconvenience.
— Sacramento Kings (@SacramentoKings) March 28, 2018
The Kings issued another statement following the game:
Tonight’s demonstrations beginning at City Hall migrated to Golden 1 Center preventing ticketed guests from safely entering the arena.
The safety of our guests is our number one priority. Due to law enforcement being unable to allow ticketed fans to safely enter the arena, the doors were closed to maintain guest and public safety.
We continue to work with law enforcement and City leadership to ensure the safety and security of fans and the public on Thursday and at future events.
Harrison Barnes of the Dallas Mavericks seemed to support the message and the method of the protests, despite the inconvenience to fans.
Barnes said after the game:
If they were doing this somewhere else in the city, would they still be garnering the same attention? Would it be at the front of every opposing team that’s coming in here? Would it be national news that the Sacramento Kings are locking fans out of their stadium? Why are they locking fans out of the stadium? Oh, because this young man was killed. Then the dialogue keeps going that way.
There’s never an easy way that’s easy for everyone who’s involved to accept it and be on board, but the point is to bring attention to something, to start a debate, and that’s what they’re doing.
No official attendance was given, but the crowd was estimated at around 4,000, USA Today reports.
Follow Dylan Gwinn on Twitter @themightygwinn
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