{"id":168148,"date":"2016-07-12T08:06:16","date_gmt":"2016-07-12T14:06:16","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/?p=168148"},"modified":"2016-07-12T08:06:16","modified_gmt":"2016-07-12T14:06:16","slug":"comments-about-black-lives-matter-made-in-emotional-time-el-paso-chief-says","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/2016\/07\/comments-about-black-lives-matter-made-in-emotional-time-el-paso-chief-says\/","title":{"rendered":"Comments about Black Lives Matter made in ’emotional time,’ El Paso chief says"},"content":{"rendered":"

El Paso Police Chief Greg Allen issued a statement<\/a> Monday afternoon explaining, but not apologizing for, his claim Friday that Black Lives Matter is a “radical hate group.”<\/p>\n

\"Black

Kaitlyn Veto \/ The Texas Tribune<\/p>

After El Paso Police Chief Greg Allen called Black Lives Matter a “radical hate group,” 13 area leaders are calling on the mayor and city council to repudiate his comments.<\/p><\/div>\n

“The remarks I shared after Friday\u2019s press conference were made during an emotional time, I hope everyone can respect that,” Allen wrote in the statement, published on the El Paso Police Department’s website. “I am a police officer first and foremost and it truly pains me any time an officer is killed.”<\/p>\n

Allen made his original comments on Black Lives Matter after a press conference held by El Paso law enforcement officials on Friday, in response to the shootings of police officers in Dallas. He did not speak during the conference, but afterwards a reporter asked him what he would say to residents who planned a vigil on Sunday night for victims of police shootings.<\/p>\n

\u201cBlack Lives Matter, as far as I\u2019m concerned, is a radical hate group,” Allen said. “For that purpose alone I think the leadership of this country needs to look a little bit harder at that particular group. The consequences of what we saw in Dallas is due to their efforts.\u201d<\/p>\n

A group of 13 state lawmakers and representatives of the NAACP and ACLU wrote a letter over the weekend calling on Mayor Oscar Leeser and the El Paso City Council to publicly repudiate Allen’s claim. The Tribune could not reach Allen or Leeser for comment on Monday afternoon.<\/p>\n