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Thousands march as thug policemen continue to target Blacks
Firearm display—Photo by Joseph Earnest
by Joseph Earnest July 8, 2016
Newscast Media CHICAGO—Protesters took to the streets in Chicago, New York, Dallas, Los Angeles, St. Paul, and other U.S. cities on July 7 to express outrage over two fatal police shootings of black men in two days.
The protests drew large police presences and were mostly peaceful, but in Dallas police said four officers were killed and seven others wounded by two snipers who apparently had positioned themselves above the street level.
The protesters were reacting to two police killings, one targeting Philando Castile near St. Paul, Minnesota, on July 6. His girlfriend, Diamond Reynolds, posted a widely viewed video of Castile dying in a pool of blood afterward.
Castile, 32, had been pulled over for a broken tail light. He was shot after informing the officer that he had a gun and a permit to carry, and then reaching for his wallet, according to Reynolds.
Hours earlier on July 5, Alton Sterling was killed during an altercation with two white police officers in Baton Rouge, Louisiana.
Graphic video of that incident, where the father of five children was shot several times at point blank range while he was pinned to the ground by the police, also caused an outcry on social media.
Protesters shut down one of Chicago's main traffic arteries for about 10 minutes, while in New York, several hundred protesters blocked traffic in Times Square in the heart of Manhattan, chanting "Hands up, don't shoot." Police eventually cleared the area.
In St. Paul, about a thousand people gathered outside the governor's mansion, chanting "Hey hey, ho ho, those killer cops have got to go," and other slogans.
Minnesota Governor Mark Dayton made a brief appearance and said he believed the Castile killing could have been an instance of racism and a state investigation was already under way.
President Barack Obama, travelling in Warsaw, called the killings tragic.
"All of us as Americans should be troubled by these shootings, because these are not isolated incidents. They're symptomatic of a broader set of racial disparities that exist in our criminal justice system," he said.
The use of force by police against African-Americans in cities from Ferguson, Missouri, to Baltimore and New York in the past two years has sparked outbreaks of sometimes violent protests and has spawned a movement called Black Lives Matter.
Anger has intensified when the officers involved in such incidents have been acquitted at trial or not charged at all. Add Comments>>
Source: Radio Free Europe
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