Bowling Green Christmas parade canceled due to Emmett Till protesters

A Christmas parade in Kentucky was canceled after threats of shooting those attempting to use the event to protest the 1955 lynching of Emmett Till.

bowling green announced Saturday morning The parade did not take place after law enforcement officials reported threats against at least three groups planning protests.

Warren County Sheriff Brett Hightower said in a Facebook video his office learned of threats late Friday night to “shoot anyone who protests and anyone who helps protesters.”

“At this point, we have not been able to determine the validity of this threat,” Hightower said. “However, we think it is important to warn our citizens.”

Till, then 14, was kidnapped and lynched in Mississippi after a white woman claimed the boy whistled at her. His death excited the civil rights movement.

The story drew renewed attention this summer when an unfulfilled warrant for the arrest of wife Carolyn Bryant Donham was discovered in the basement of a courthouse.

AP

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Saturday’s protests were set to take place in multiple locations, local TV station WBKO reported. Bryant Donham is now believed to be living in an apartment complex in Bowling Green, Kentucky, where protesters hoping to have her arrested on that warrant were plotting to show up.

In August, a Mississippi grand jury declined to indict Bryant Donham.

Bowling Green Police Chief Michael Delaney said in the Facebook video that his department is working with the Warren County Sheriff’s Office, the Kentucky State Police, the FBI and the Department of Homeland Security to determine the origin of Friday’s threat.

The parade organizers said they are working to postpone the holiday celebrations to a later date.