Charlotte ends curfew in wake of police shooting of black man

Weekend without street violence highlighted as city hosts NFL game without interruption

Charlotte lifted its midnight curfew, signalling movement towards normality after a state of emergency was imposed following the shooting death of a black man by police last week that brought National Guard troops and armoured vehicles to downtown street corners.

A weekend without street violence was highlighted on Sunday as the city hosted the NFL game between the Carolina Panthers and the Minnesota Vikings without interruption.

Still, protests continued for a sixth day since 43-year-old Keith Lamont Scott was shot and killed lasts Tuesday after a confrontation with Charlotte police.

The first two nights of protests were violent, with demonstrators smashing windows, blocking part of an interstate through downtown, and burning the contents of a tractor-trailer. More than a dozen police officers were injured.

Protesters clambered onto Interstate 277 through the city’s downtown on Sunday night and tried to block traffic until police arrived. The protesters ran, but one fell in front of an all-terrain vehicle operated by a Greensboro police officer helping the Charlotte force, Charlotte-Mecklenburg police said. The protester, 26-year-old Donnell Jones of Missouri, was not hurt and was charged with disorderly conduct and resisting arrest, police said.

Earlier on Sunday, about 100 demonstrators gathered across the street from Bank of America Stadium before the football game to protest the Scott shooting. They were surrounded by at least two dozen police officers on bicycles.