PROTEST BY PROTEST, VOICES GET LOUDER AS RALLIES GROW
Some demonstrations take an ugly turn as violence erupts and arrests mount
BATON ROUGE More than 1,000 people on Sunday returned for a second day of protests in response to last week’s shooting death of Alton Sterling at the hands of police. Elsewhere in the USA, similar protests roiled other cities.
In the Louisiana capital, where Sterling died on Tuesday, at least 12 people were arrested after police and protesters clashed. In one instance, a man was arrested as he ran from a scene where a brick and bottle were thrown.
Those arrests came less than a day after more than 130 protesters were arrested overnight, including prominent Black Lives Matter activist DeRay Mckesson, who was released on bond Sunday after being arrested late Saturday on the side of a highway while videotaping a protest.
Mckesson, who turned 31 on Saturday, had traveled to Louisiana from his native Baltimore to join the protest on behalf of Sterling, a 37- year- old black man who was shot and killed outside of a convenience store by two white police officers.
In downtown Memphis, several hundred people gathered Sunday for a Black Lives Matter rally that turned into a march that shut down traffic on the Interstate 40 bridge over the Mississippi River.
Traffic was at a standstill on both sides of the bridge by about 7 p. m. as the crowd on the bridge swelled to more than 1,000.
In the nation’s capital a rally for peace and justice took place near the White House, organized by local churches. A prayer vigil was also scheduled for later in the day at the African American Civil War Memorial.
In Cincinnati, Black Lives Matter protesters and a diverse group of supporters took to the streets for two hours late Sunday afternoon, memorializing black men it says were victims of police brutality and calling for just punishment of the police officers responsible for their deaths.
The “Enough is Enough” rally memorialized black men who died in the past week at the hands of police in Baton Rouge, as well as in suburban St. Paul.
The mother of Sam DuBose, the unarmed black driver shot and killed a year ago by a University of Cincinnati police officer, spoke to the large crowd in front of Cincinnati police headquarters about the loss she suffered. The officer, Ray Tensing, faces a murder trial in the fall.
“Let’s keep fighting,” Audrey DuBose said. “Don’t wait until it happens to your son.”
In St. Anthony, Minn., hundreds gathered at police headquarters. Philando Castile, 32, was shot and killed Wednesday night in Falcon Heights during a traffic stop conducted by two St. Anthony police officers. The rally followed a similar event Saturday night in St. Paul, where a peaceful demonstration turned violent as protesters threw objects at police. More than 100 were arrested and more than 20 officers were injured. Traffic on Interstate 94 was closed for more than five hours.
Authorities say during the course of the protests on I- 94 and later, officers from multiple agencies suffered injuries primarily caused by fireworks, rocks, bricks, glass bottles and chunks of concrete directed at officers, some hitting them in the head.
St. Paul Police said someone also threw a Molotov cocktail at officers. None of the injuries were serious.
Five police officers were killed and seven wounded in Dallas on Thursday when Army veteran Micah Xavier Johnson, 25, ambushed police at a Black Lives Matter protest. Police used a robot drone to bomb Johnson, killing him.
In Dallas on Sunday, a group of about 50 people gathered in a Black Lives Matter protest that became a march near a north side mall as they were asked to move by police and private security guards.
Wearing a homemade tank top that said “unapologetically black,” MinnDee Evans, 25, waved at passing drivers and yelled “thank you” whenever anyone honked to show their support.