Protests resume in USA over ‘racially-motivated’ shootings, roads blocked

Demonstrations against the shootings of two black men by police officers shut down main arteries in a number of US cities on Saturday, leading to numerous arrests, brawls and injuries.

Undeterred by heightened concerns about safety at protests after a lone gunman killed five police officers in Dallas on Thursday, organisers went ahead with marches in the biggest metropolis, New York City, and Washington D.C., among other cities.

This was the third consecutive day of widespread protests after the fatal shooting of Alton Sterling, 37, by police in Baton Rouge on Tuesday, and the death of Philando Castile, 32, on Wednesday night in a St. Paul Minnesota suburb.

Following several years of contentious killings by law enforcement officers, the most recent shooting deaths by police include that of Michael Brown, a teenager whose death in the summer of 2014 caused riots and weeks of protests in the St. Louis suburb of Ferguson.

On Saturday evening, I-94, a major thoroughfare linking the Twin Cities, was shut down by protesters, snarling traffic.

St. Paul police said at least three were injured by protesters who, told to disperse, threw rocks, bottles, and construction rebar at officers. To disperse the crowd, police used smoke bombs and marking rounds. Arrests took place too.

Police fired tear gas and rubber bullets, protesters at the scene added. Early on Sunday, police said, the highway started being cleared of debris, in preparation for re-opening it.

Scuffles between riot police and Black Panther activists, several of whom carried shotguns, took place in a march in Baton Rouge since Louisiana law allows for weapons to be carried openly.

Riot police arrested as many as 30 demonstrators and recovered weapons after a standoff later in the evening. Among those arrested were prominent black activists and Deray McKesson, former Baltimore mayoral candidate.

Additionally, on Saturday, protesters briefly blocked a road in Nashville, and protests carried on in Indianapolis. According to local media, a rally in San Francisco briefly blocked a freeway ramp too.

Hundreds of protesters marched from City Hall to Union Square in New York. The crowd, swelling to around a thousand people, closed down Fifth Avenue, chanting “No racist police, no justice, no peace”, as rain fell in New York.

“I’m feeling very haunted, very sad,” said Lorena Ambrosio, 27, a Peruvian American and freelance artist, “and just angry that black bodies just keep piling and piling up.”

About a dozen protesters were arrested for shutting down a major city highway, New York police said.