Curfew to be enforced in Milwaukee after weekend unrest
MILWAUKEE: A nighttime curfew for teenagers in the US city of Milwaukee will be strictly enforced police said Monday, following two nights of violence over the fatal police shooting of a black man.
Police in the now relatively calm Midwestern city faced off with protesters in the city’s Sherman Park neighbourhood on Saturday and again on Sunday after the death of 23-year-old Sylville Smith, who officials say was armed.
The death angered residents, as it echoes a series of deadly police incidents involving mainly African American suspects.
In the weekend clashes, cars and businesses were set on fire, and gunshots, rocks and bottles were aimed at police.
Fourteen people were arrested Sunday and three police cars were damaged, according to officials.
“There were groups of young people in particular, who were travelling in the streets,” Mayor Tom Barrett told a news conference Monday.
“Those people, in my mind, were deliberately trying to damage a great neighbourhood, in a great city.”
The curfew for minors under the age of 18 begins at 10.00pm, Barrett said.
“We’re going to make sure that there is peace and order restored in this neighbourhood,” he told reporters.
Protests fi rst erupted Saturday, when a crowd of about 200 turned violent following the shooting of Smith, who was in a car with another individual when he was stopped by two police officers.
Smith and the other person fled on foot. A black police officer then shot and killed Smith after he failed to drop a gun, according to authorities. — AFP