BROOKLYN CENTER, Minn. — Tensions between protesters and police intensified for the second evening in a row Monday, a day after a Brooklyn Heart police officer fatally shot Daunte Wright, a 20-year-old Black man, throughout a site visitors cease.
Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz imposed a curfew from 7 p.m. till 6 a.m. Tuesday for 3 counties that embrace Brooklyn Heart, Minneapolis, and the capital of St. Paul.“The biggest police presence” in Minnesota historical past been referred to as in to patrol across the Twin Cities, he stated throughout a information convention earlier that day.
Crowds started gathering exterior the Brooklyn Heart police station Monday afternoon, with a whole bunch there by dusk regardless of the governor’s dusk-to-dawn curfew. A drum beat incessantly, and the gang broke into frequent chants of “Daunte Wright!” Some shouted obscenities at officers.
However about 90 minutes after the curfew deadline, police started firing gasoline canisters and flash-bang grenades in an try to drive them away, sending clouds wafting over the gang and pushing some again at the very least briefly. Some protesters, sporting gasoline masks, picked up smoke canisters and threw them again towards police.
At a information convention early Tuesday, Minnesota State Patrol Col. Matt Langer stated that 40 individuals had been arrested on the Brooklyn Heart protest, starting from curfew violation to rioting. Some of the officers suffered minor accidents from thrown objects, he added.
A candlelight memorial for Wright, together with a raised fist statue, was additionally erected the place he was shot Monday evening.
Demonstrations in New York Metropolis had been comparatively peaceable — protesters blocked roads and the Manhattan Bridge in solidarity, however no arrests had been made.
A small crowd gathered in Oscar Grant Plaza in Oakland, California, for a vigil. Oscar Grant was fatally shot by Oakland police in 2009.
A group of about 200 protesters marched in the direction of a police precinct in Portland, Oregon. Police fired rubber bullets and flash bangs, ordering the gang to disperse as some set off fireworks and broke home windows.
In Louisville, Kentucky, the place Breonna Taylor was shot by police simply over a 12 months in the past, protesters blocked site visitors with tables and chairs, chanting Wright’s identify.
And in Los Angeles, the county sheriff plans to ask that the Nationwide Guard be placed on standby for the approaching days, based on FOX-11 Los Angeles.
“Prayers should not sufficient. Daunte Wright ought to nonetheless be with us. Whereas an investigation is underway, our nation wants justice and therapeutic, and Daunte’s household must know why their baby is lifeless—they deserve solutions.” Vice President Kamala Harris stated on Twitter amidst protests throughout the nation.
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The Minnesota Twins, Wild and Timberwolves all postponed house video games scheduled for Monday.
“We got here to the conclusion that the precise factor to do was for us to not play at the moment, rooted in respect for the Wright household but additionally rooted in our thoughts within the security of all of these concerned in at the moment’s sport,” Twins President Dave St. Peter stated.
Throughout a information convention Monday, the Brooklyn Heart Police Division launched physique digicam footage of the incident that happened in a Minneapolis suburb about 10 miles from the place George Floyd died in police custody final Could.
Wright was shot as soon as and died after the site visitors cease, police Chief Tim Gannon stated. Physique cam footage confirmed two different officers approaching Wright’s automobile and the officer who fired the shot standing behind them.
Because the officer on the driving force facet of the car started to handcuff Wright, he broke free, a wrestle ensued, and Wright jumped again into the driving force’s seat. An officer threatened to tase him, shouting, “Taser!” at the very least 3 times earlier than taking pictures Wright, then saying, “Oh (expletive), I simply shot him.”
The automobile drove away, touring a number of blocks earlier than hitting one other car.
Wright’s dying, which set off protests and unrest Sunday evening, was dominated a murder by the Hennepin County Medical Examiner.
Throughout the information convention, neighborhood members watching from the foyer of the Police Division headquarters expressed their anger as others protested exterior.
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“That is homicide. That is white supremacy. Who’s going to face up for our ancestors who constructed this land however are nonetheless stored down?” stated Jonathan Mason, a neighborhood activist.
In a press release, NAACP Nationwide President Derrick Johnson stated Wright “ought to be alive at the moment.”
“Whether or not it’s carelessness and negligence, or a blatant modern-day lynching, the end result is identical. One other Black man has died by the hands of police,” Johnson stated.
Brooklyn Heart Mayor Mike Elliott referred to as the taking pictures “deeply tragic” and stated the officer ought to be fired. He later introduced that the town council had voted to present his workplace “command authority” over the police division.
This “will streamline issues and set up a series of command and management,” he wrote on Twitter. He additionally stated the town supervisor had been fired, and that the deputy metropolis supervisor would take over his duties.
Brooklyn Heart is a modest suburb simply north of Minneapolis that has seen its demographics shift dramatically lately. In 2000, greater than 70% of the town was white. Right now, a majority of residents are Black, Asian or Latino.
Organizers from the Motion for Black Lives, a nationwide coalition of greater than 150 Black-led political and advocacy teams, pointed to Wright’s killing as but one more reason why cities should take up proposals for defunding an “irreparably damaged, racist system.”
“The truth that police killed him simply miles from the place they murdered George Floyd final 12 months is a slap within the face to a whole neighborhood,” stated Karissa Lewis, the coalition’s nationwide area director.
Contributing: Ryan W. Miller, Eric Ferkenhoff and Jorge Ortiz, USA TODAY; The Related Press