US police shootings: State of emergency for Charlotte as unrest over police...

US police shootings: State of emergency for Charlotte as unrest over police shooting continues

0

The governor of North Carolina has declared a state of emergency in the town of Charlotte, as unrest over a police shooting continues sending in the National Guard.

As demonstrations over the killing of a black man spun out of control violence erupted for a second night.

One protester is in a critical condition after a “civilian on civilian” episode, the city said.

Riot police used tear gas as they faced countless protesters.

The demonstrators are furious that Keith Lamont Scott, 43, was killed by police on Tuesday.

Authorities say before he was shot Mr Scott was told to drop his pistol but his family say he was reading a novel at the time.

Governor Pat McCrory declared the state of emergency as rioters attacked journalists and other people, breaking windows and setting small fires.

The second night of protests had begun calmly but gunfire interrupted the protest and a guy in the bunch was injured. The city said he was killed but issued a clarification on Twitter.

Bottles and fireworks subsequently threw at the officers, who were lined up in riot gear. Cops fired tear gas to repel the bunches and flash grenades.

The usage of lethal police force against African Americans has been the subject of nationwide protests across the US for two years.

Authorities in Tulsa, killed another African American, Terence Crutcher on Friday, and policemen said on Sunday he’d been unarmed.

Authorities in Charlotte on Wednesday appealed for calm and defended their activities in the death of Mr Scott by insisting he’d been repeatedly warned to drop his firearm.

When he emerged holding his weapon he was shot. The police chief was not able to say if Mr Scott had been pointing his weapon at officers.

After her dad’s death, the daughter of Mr Scott posted a video on Facebook in which she said her daddy had been unarmed and reading a book when he was shot as he waited to drop his son off.

Jennifer Robert, the mayor of Charlotte, voiced her shock at the violent protests.

“Charlotte is a city that’s worked very difficult to build great community police relationships,” she told.

“We have been a model of community policing. Other police forces have been really trained by us. This is not who we are as Charlotteans and I’m hoping we can go past these demonstrations very quickly, go into more peaceful protests and back into conversation.”