It was the third straight day of widespread demonstrations after police shootings that occurred within a day of each other, and which were captured on video that was widely circulated online.
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WAFB confirmed one of its reporters had also been arrested. Most of those arrested were from Louisiana and faced a single charge of obstructing a highway.
Spokeswoman Casey Rayborn Hicks of the East Baton Rouge Sheriff’s Office told The Associated Press on Sunday that 101 people were being held in the parish jail in connection with the protests.
Tensions between black citizens and police have risen palpably over the past week or so amid police shootings of African-American men in Minnesota and Louisiana and the gunning down of five white police officers by a black suspect in Dallas in apparent retaliation.
Officers made dozens of arrests in Louisiana’s capital on a long hot weekend of protests over the killings of black people by police, with demonstrations around the country highlighted by attempts to block some major interstates.
Among those arrested was DeRay McKesson, according to an Associated Press reporter who was at the scene.
As police prepared to reopen Airline Highway, they allowed protesters to cross the road to the front of the police department. “Don’t fight me.” Then Mr. McKesson shouts, “I’m under arrest, y’all”.
Demonstrators gathered at the convenience store where 37-year-old Alton Sterling was shot before fanning out to the Baton Rouge police department and the state Capitol for another day of demonstrations. Janelle Monae, the pop singer and also a very vocal member of the Black Lives Matter Group, also took to twitter to share her outrage. Mckesson had been approached by an officer and told that he was “flagged” and would be arrested if he left the sidewalk.
The video does not show the arrest, but an officer is then heard confronting McKesson and telling him to not “fight me”.
Hundreds of people are demonstrating in the streets of Baton Rouge over the death of a black man earlier this week.
On July 5, police received a call claiming a man was threatening someone with a gun outside of the Triple S Food Mart on N. Foster Drive.
The graphic video, which was shot from a much closer distance, shows the two Baton Rouge police officers struggling with Sterling. “We’re not gonna tolerate any violence or destruction”, said East Baton Rouge Sheriff Sid Gautreaux. Officers were hit with rocks, bottles, concrete, construction materials and fireworks, police said.
After a lengthy standoff, more police in full riot gear moved in, pinning some of the protesters as others fled.
“I’m under arrest, y’all!”
A large crowd of protesters started a march from Cortana Mall down Airline Hwy to the Baton Rouge Police Department. Video of the shooting, which took place in Baton Rouge on Tuesday, was posted online and set off angry protests.
Police arrest protesters during a Black Lives Matter rally.
Mckesson came to public attention in 2014 protesting police brutality after the shooting of Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri. “They want a reason to shoot us down in the street, but we’re not gonna give them one”.
A protest leader urged the group to march to the governor’s mansion, where protesters have gathered since the fatal police shooting on Wednesday night of Philando Castile.
The gatherings in Baton Rouge came after overnight demonstrations produced tense moments resulting in 30 arrests.
The protest was in response to the recent death of Alton Sterling, who was filmed being shot and killed by police officers in Baton Rouge.
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More protests across the country are expected in the days ahead.
