Bricks in Frisco, Texas, left for construction, not protest

CLAIM: Block of bricks was left for protesters on a street in Frisco, Texas, on the day of a march to demand justice for George Floyd.

AP’S ASSESSMENT: False. The bricks were left for a construction project in a neighborhood outside where Monday’s protest was being held, and before the day of the march. 

THE FACTS: Ahead of Monday’s protest in Frisco, social media users began circulating photos of a stack of bricks to suggest they were placed there for the protesters. 

“All of sudden this shows up on the path of the “protest,”’ one post with more than 1,600 shares said. “You wanna tell me this is not planned and organized now?”

Frisco police Sgt. Evan Mattei told The Associated Press that the packaged block of bricks, located on the corner of North County and Fisher Road, was about a 10-minute walk from where the protesters would be marching. They were left there for a homeowners association construction project, he said. 

The protest route was planned to start at the Warren Sports Complex and make its way down the sidewalks of Eldorado Parkway. 

“I drove the alleged route of today’s protest about a half hour ago, I did not see anything that appeared to be staged along those routes,” Mattei said around 4 p.m. “At this point, our department has no intelligence to suggest that any bricks have been placed on this specific route in advance of this protest for violent purposes.”

In recent days, social media users have been sharing photos and videos of bricks near protest sites, suggesting they were placed there for protesters to use. 

The Black Lives Matter movement organized the Monday march in Frisco. 

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This is part of The Associated Press’ ongoing effort to fact-check misinformation that is shared widely online, including work with Facebook to identify and reduce the circulation of false stories on the platform.

Here’s more information on Facebook’s fact-checking program: https://www.facebook.com/help/1952307158131536