A “Black Lives Matter” protest that arose amid threats of vandalism and arrest ended in a peaceful joining together Friday of Atlantic City’s mayor and a community activist who had threatened to paint those words on the seaside gambling resort’s historic Boardwalk.

Mayor Marty Small and protest organizer Steve Young picked up roller paint brushes and helped write those words on the pavement of Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard in front of the city’s Civil Rights Garden.

Young wanted to paint the name of the movement on the Boardwalk, which Small said is illegal. The mayor then planned the city's own even where the words could be painted in a public place.