In the early stages of Wednesday night’s hours-long demonstrations, Virginia State Police worked to clear a group of protesters from Interstate 64/95, where they had gathered in what the agency categorized as “an extremely dangerous situation” in which pedestrians were on a stretch of highway with ramps, blind curves and limited lighting.

After entering the interstate from Belvidere Street, the protesters marched eastward, seemingly to the next exit, which is for the Richmond Coliseum area.

Richmond police had sought assistance from state police to help deal with the protesters on the interstate shortly before 10 p.m. About 40 minutes later, the pedestrians were gone from the highway and the lanes were reopened to vehicle traffic, with no arrests made, according to state police spokeswoman Corinne Geller.

The protesters, many of whom appeared to be VCU students, marched up and down Broad Street between VCU and downtown, as well as into Jackson Ward and along Monument Avenue. Rather than one all-encompassing group, different groups marched in different areas. At one point, protesters gathered outside the state Capitol.

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