Skip to content
View Featured Image

Protests Across the Country In Response To Police Killings

Above: Dallas protest against police shootings of African Americans, from Black Voice News.

In response to the police killings of Alton Sterling in Baton Rouge, LA and Philando Castile in Falcon Heights, Minnesota there were protests held in many cities across the country.

Baton Rouge mourners over police shooting, source NY Times
In Baton Rouge, mourners placed candles and flowers in the parking lot of the Triple S Food Mart on Wednesday. Credit William Widmer for The New York Times

The New York Times reported “Baton Rouge Is Passionate, and Peaceful, After Shooting of Alton Sterling” writing:

The protest of the fatal police shooting of a CD vendor here in Louisiana’s capital had many of the trappings of similar flare-ups around the country: blaring music, young men with faces obscured by bandannas, and obscene and brutal sentiments directed toward the local police department, on angry tongues and homemade placards.

But as Wednesday night’s street rally flowed into Thursday morning, it had managed to be as peaceful as it was passionate. Cars and trucks honked, stopped and skidded as they made their way up and down a few blocks of North Foster Drive, past cheering and dancing crowds in front of the Triple S Food Mart where Alton Sterling, 37, was fatally shot early Tuesday by officers responding to a call about an armed man.

The Justice Department opened a civil rights investigation into Mr. Sterling’s death after a searing video of the encounter, shown repeatedly on television and social media, reignited contentious issues surrounding police killings of African-Americans.

Minnesota Governor Mark Dayton called on the Department of Justice to investigate the killing. NBC reports “Crowds shouting “no justice, no peace” have remained outside the governor’s mansion in protest to the incident — the second police-involved shooting of a black man to gain nationwide attention in as many days.”  The Star-Tribune reports Dayton met Thursday night with Castile family members, including Diamond Reynolds and her daughter, far left, outside his residence in St. Paul and promised justice to the family. 

Then early Friday, protesters and police were involved in a confrontation in St. Paul at Summit Avenue and Oxford Street, an incident being shown on the Internet live.

Other footage shared on social media showed police activity elsewhere on Summit and Grand avenues.

On the Unicorn Riot livestream, a person who gave his name as Lorenzo said people began marching toward police early Friday and a window on a police vehicle was “taken out,” which led to more police arriving in the area. When the officers arrived, some of the protesters headed toward Grand Avenue, according to Lorenzo. The standoff at Summit and Oxford appeared to be breaking up shortly before 3 a.m.

In Oakland, the East Bay Times reports:

Protesters shut down both directions of Interstate 880 on Thursday night after they marched from Frank H. Ogawa Plaza in a show of national solidarity opposed to recent incidents of apparent police brutality.

The mostly peaceful rally began with hundreds of people marching down Broadway, some chanting “The whole damn system is guilty as hell,” and arriving at the downtown plaza to hear passionate speakers with a muffled megaphone denounce police violence. . . . .

Around 8:30 p.m., protesters stopped in front of Oakland Police Department headquarters, where rally organizer Minister Ben McBride spoke to an enthused crowd chanting “black lives matter.” As McBride prepared to read the demands for Oakland police, he asked protesters, “Are you glad you’re out here to remember Alton tonight? Are you glad you’re here to remember Phil tonight? Are you glad you came here to shut it down tonight?”

The hundreds of protesters yelled “yes!” to all questions. McBride then read the demands of the protesters, calling the police department “guilty” of an array of crimes, including murder. The minister then splattered red paint as a “representation of the blood that’s been spilled” on the front door entrance of police headquarters as protesters cheered.

Tweets showing more protests:

Urgent End Of Year Fundraising Campaign

Online donations are back! Keep independent media alive. 

Due to the attacks on our fiscal sponsor, we were unable to raise funds online for nearly two years.  As the bills pile up, your help is needed now to cover the monthly costs of operating Popular Resistance.

Donate Here

Urgent End Of Year Fundraising Campaign

Online donations are back! 

Keep independent media alive. 

Due to the attacks on our fiscal sponsor, we were unable to raise funds online for nearly two years.  As the bills pile up, your help is needed now to cover the monthly costs of operating Popular Resistance.

Donate Here
Sign Up To Our Daily Digest

Independent media outlets are being suppressed and dropped by corporations like Google, Facebook and Twitter. Sign up for our daily email digest before it’s too late so you don’t miss the latest movement news.