The curfew will be in effect until the state of emergency is lifted, according to the order.
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The mayor of Charlotte issued a citywide curfew Thursday, as the city braced itself for a third consecutive night of protests over the shooting death of 43-year-old Keith Scott at the hand of a police officer.
Thursday night’s protest also kicked off shortly after Charlotte police confirmed that a man shot by another civilian during Wednesday night’s protests had died, and that a homicide investigation has been launched.
Such other classes of person as may be essential to the preservation of public order and immediately necessary to serve the safety, health, and welfare needs of the people within the city. You can find that page here.
Chanting “No Justice, No Peace” and “Don’t Shoot, Hands Up”, protesters began peacefully marching down streets – surrounded by rifle-carrying National Guard officers – carrying signs that read “End Police Terror”, “Black Lives Matter”, “I Hope I Don’t Killed For Being Black” and “Black Power”.
Republican Gov. Pat McCrory declared a state of emergency after violent protests Wednesday led to 44 arrests – and with five officers and nine civilians being injured. At several points throughout those protests, tear gas and flash grenades were deployed.
One man was on life support after being shot Wednesday night by another civilian during the unrest, the city tweeted. He was pronounced deceased at a Charlotte-area hospital on Thursday.
Protesters also descended upon I-277, as they did the previous two nights.
Around 11:30 p.m. police said that no injuries had been reported.
Protests appeared mostly peaceful earlier Thursday, but two officers were being treated after being sprayed with a “chemical agent”, police said just after midnight Friday morning.
Charlotte is just the latest USA city to be shaken by protests and recriminations over the death of a black man at the hands of police, a list that includes Baltimore, Milwaukee, Chicago, New York and Ferguson, Missouri. Both Scott and Vinson are African American men.
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Officers were at the complex to serve a warrant unrelated to Scott. Scott’s family, however, claim the father of seven was unarmed and waiting for his son to get off school when he was shot to death. “When told by police to exit his vehicle, Mr. Scott did so in a very calm, non-aggressive manner”. Members of the family took to social media soon after the shooting with their side of the story.
