Alton Sterling supporters gather near the Baton Rouge Police Department in Baton Rouge, Tuesday, July 12, 2016 to hold signs and garner honking horns from motorists.
Advertisement
The groups allege that authorities used excessive force, carried out mass arrests and verbally and physically abused protesters.
“The police didn’t do their job in Baton Rouge, again”, said Marjorie Esman, executive director of the ACLU of Louisiana.
Several law enforcement agencies are investigating the threat, including Louisiana State Police, the East Baton Rouge Parish Sheriff’s Office and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives. Police are defending their actions after a fraught week of nationwide debate and sometimes violence following the police shooting deaths of two black men; a deadly sniper attack on officers in Dallas, Texas; and an alleged plot to harm Baton Rouge’s own officers.
Police said they learned of the plot when an officer responded to a burglary at a pawn shop early Saturday morning and arrested 17-year-old Antonio Thomas in the store.
Authorities arrested about 200 protesters over a three-day period, often taking to the streets in riot gear or riding in military-style vehicles.
Louisiana Gov. John Bel Edwards (D) called the response “moderate”, while Louisiana State Police Col. Michael D. Edmonson said protesters in at least one instance had thrown bricks at police.
Authorities have said that they have worked with demonstrators in many cases to allow them to protest peacefully, even blocking streets to traffic. “Yet Alton Sterling is on the long list of Black people killed needlessly by our nation’s police, and protests in his honor have turned into circuses of violence where the First Amendment is tossed aside”.
Sterling also spoke about protests and demonstrations regarding the shooting death of his father saying, “I feel that everyone, yes you can protest, but I want everyone to protest in the right way”. Police then manhandled demonstrators, tackling some on the ground, even arresting credentialed journalists and legal observers, the lawsuit claims. Baton Rouge Police Chief Carl Dabadie, Jr. said it appears the suspects were unsuccessful in their attempt to steal ammunition.
“The objective of this Situational Information Report is to alert first responders of threats to law enforcement and potential threats to the safety of the general public”, the document said. “Everyone needs to protest in the right way-with peace, no violence, none whatsoever”.
Advertisement
Baton Rouge PD Lt. Jonny Dunham later told CBS News that the protesters had already broken the law by attempting to march along the on-ramp to the Interstate.
