UPDATE: UMES students stop traffic, but rally peacefully in Princess Anne

About 100 University of Maryland Eastern Shore students lined up across Route 13 on Tuesday in protest.

Their reason was that police violence needs to stop, but their message was that they can do so without causing the same turmoil that put Baltimore under the national spotlight.

“We don’t have to be violent to get our voices heard, I feel like people misinterpret that, what protesting is,” says Omari Fisher.

For drivers, it caused at least a ten minute stop in traffic. However, Maryland State Police say it was peaceful, with no violence or arrests.

Students started behind the UMES student center, holding hands in prayer, then made their way down UMES Boulevard.

Some students linked arms, chanted, and held signs asking for justice for those who were shot and killed by police this year.

“I feel like the police violence has been going on for too long,” says John Livergood, a student protester.

For those many students either from Baltimore or with close ties in the area, it was an opportunity to no longer feel helpless more than *two hours away.

“The whole school right now is just sad,” says Fisher. “It’s getting closer and closer to people’s homes too so it’s really affecting everybody.”

For the students it is the first step of a movement they hope will continue to be peaceful but spark the change they are fighting for.

“We need to find a solution for all these things, the police brutalities and the things that people have a problem with,” says Fisher. “We have to start somewhere, if not now, then when?”