BURLINGTON, Vt. (AP) — Protesters are calling for greater budget cuts to the police department in Vermont’s largest city.

They gathered outside of Burlington’s City Hall and police department late Wednesday.

Burlington Mayor Miro Weinberger has proposed a 10% cut to the police department amid calls by activists in the city and nationwide to defund the police. Protesters want a 30% reduction.

“I feel like having too much of a force that has guns on them all the time — it spooks people. It’s scary. It’s intimidating,” Gabby Snook, a protester, told WCAX-TV.

Weinberger says reducing the police force by 30% could not happen overnight, but he says nothing’s off the table.

“I think if we have some time with this and can figure out what do we want police not to do anymore, what do we want them to do differently… if we do the hard work of really transforming what this agency is responsible for, then maybe,” Weinberger said.

The move comes amid mass protests around the country and in Vermont over police violence and racial prejudice following the deaths of George Floyd in Minneapolis and other black Americans.

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ST. JOHNSBURY PROTEST

Nine written complaints against the St. Johnsbury police department were filed following the June 3 Black Lives Matter protest.

The Caledonian Record reports Town Manager Chad Whitehead would not share the details of the complaints, which have been sent to a private investigator hired to look into police interactions with the protesters.

The mostly peaceful protest became unruly after the protesters drifted into the middle of Main Street, disrupted traffic and refused police orders to move.

Four people were arrested for disorderly conduct. A woman fell down the concrete steps of the police department after an officer pulled her away from the front door, causing scrapes.

The scene calmed down after the arrests and officers knelt in a show of unity with protesters.

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