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Protests Over Police Killings Aim at Occupying Interstates
[ABC] Police made dozens of arrests in Louisiana's capital city during weekend protests around the country in which people angry over police killings of young black men sought to block some major interstates.Riot police in full gear stopped a group of protesters in Baton Rouge late Sunday in their attempt to walk onto Interstate 110 in Baton Rouge, thwarting a protest tactic that social justice activists have increasingly tried in several U.S. cities. Tensions between black citizens and police have risen since last week's killings of Alton Sterling in Baton Rouge, and Philando Castile in Minnesota by white officers, and a retaliatory attack on white police by a black sniper in Dallas that killed five officers and wounded others. More than a thousand people left a Black Lives Matter rally in Memphis, Tennessee, and walked up a bridge over the Mississippi River on Sunday night, temporarily blocking all traffic on Interstate 40. At a West Coast protest, hundreds of people poured into the streets of in Southern California late Sunday night, blocking traffic for several minutes on the 405 Freeway. Authorities told the Los Angeles Times there were no arrests and no reports of violence. Elsewhere, hundreds blocked a segment of Interstate 94 in Minneapolis-St. Paul on Saturday. And hundreds also blocked motorists recently on part of Interstate 264 in Portsmouth, Virginia. Demonstrators have also tried but failed in recent days to block highways in Atlanta and Columbia, South Carolina. Some government and law enforcement officials have been outspoken in seeking to discourage protesters from blocking traffic. "While I appreciate the peaceful intent of this weekend's rallies, I'd ask that we not put our fellow citizens or law enforcement at risk -- which is exactly what attempting to block highways does," South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley said in a statement. In Louisiana, some 2,000 people rallied peacefully Sunday outside the Capitol building, State Police Maj. Doug Cain said, calling that initial protest "very organized and peaceful." Then, by Sunday night, a few hundred people aimed for an on-ramp of Interstate 110 in Baton Rouge. Posted by: Besoeker 2016-07-11 |
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