Demonstrators outside the Minneapolis Police Department’s 4th Precinct during Tuesday’s protest for the death of Jamar Clark. At other times, they danced, sang and chanted, “No justice, no peace, prosecute the police”.
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With the shooting of five Black Lives Matter protesters at a Minneapolis demonstration Monday, the movement has once more captured headlines.
Three of the victims went to a hospital by private vehicle, two were taken to another hospital by ambulance.
The situation escalated Monday night when members of the protesters’ security team approached three men and one woman who were standing under a “Justice4Jamar” sign and asked what they were doing.
A fifth man was questioned and released Tuesday after an investigation showed that the man was not at the shooting scene. Police said they are not seeking any other suspects in that incident.
Freeman said the investigation into Monday’s shooting is ongoing.
According to a search warrant to enter Scarsella’s Bloomington residence, filed in Hennepin County and reported by KMSP-TV, a Mankato, Minn., police officer identified as “Officer Levin”, who was a high school classmate of Scarsella’s, told investigators that Scarsella called him and admitted shooting five people. “I don’t want to perpetuate rumor”, said Rep. Keith Ellison (D) of the area where the shooting took place.
Nevertheless, Black Lives Matter protesters plan to press on for justice. Clark’s brother, Eddie Sutton, is urging demonstrators to break camp before anyone else gets hurt, a sentiment Minnesota Governor Mark Dayton echoed.
I don’t know why the Americans can’t get along, it is not my country and I have not been in it long enough to pass judgement, BUT, I can say this, the divide between Blacks, Whites, Muslims, Mexicans etc etc is getting worse not better. Protesters say officers shot Clark in the head while he was in handcuffs.
“We will not bow to fear or intimidation”, Black Lives Matter Minneapolis’ Miski Noor said.
A line of protesters stretched down the street with their fists raised in the air in solidarity as the funeral procession passed the 4th Precinct. “This is our precinct”, shouted Pastor Danny Givens Jr. of Above Every Name Church.
“We are not going nowhere”.
“We ain’t scared”, Minneapolis NAACP President Nekima Levy-Pounds told a large crowd gathered for a concert at the precinct early Tuesday evening.
Marchers, meanwhile, stopped traffic from the 4th Precinct in North Minneapolis to City Hall in the downtown late Tuesday afternoon to express their frustration with police.
All four suspects are being held in the Hennepin County Jail without bail on suspicion of assault, according to online jail records. “Despite earlier statements from police about the impending threat from white supremacists, the police instead Maced citizen journalists and peaceful protesters…”
The encampment had vowed not to move until the department released surveillance footage of the shooting, as the officers involved were not wearing body cameras.
One white supremacist flashed his pistol as the two of them drove to the police station.
Law enforcement officials have not said whether they are investigating the shooting as a possible hate crime, but activists Tuesday said the protests would continue and called again for the release of video related to Clark’s shooting.
Clark was fatally shot by police on November 15. That prompted marchers to chant: “Handcuffed?”
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Their supporters claim the men acted in self-defense after witnesses said they were punched during an altercation with protesters, who asked them to take off their masks or leave, but many people have described the men as “terrorists”.
