Dallas Shooting: Hundreds Arrested amid New Protests
Local Editor
Hundreds of demonstrators were arrested in cities across the US this weekend, as protests against police shootings intensified and new details emerged about the motivations and plans of a man who killed five officers in Dallas.
During a weekend of protests over killings by police, more than 160 people were arrested in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, where demonstrations continued to grow over the fatal shooting by officers last week of Alton Sterling, a 37-year-old African American, as he was pinned down during a struggle.
Military-style vehicles, teargas and smoke grenades returned to American streets for the first time this summer, and Barack Obama appealed for calm and said those who attack law enforcement undermine the cause of social justice.
The unrest built as authorities in Dallas said Micah Johnson, who opened fire on officers late last Thursday, had been plotting a wider bombing campaign that could have had "devastating effects". Johnson was said to have been seeking revenge for the police's treatment of African Americans.
Among the protesters arrested was DeRay Mckesson, a high-profile national leader in the Black Lives Matter movement. Police said Mckesson was arrested for blocking a street even as video he was livestreaming at the time of his detention indicated that he was off the roadway. He was released from custody late Sunday with a charge of "simple obstruction of a highway of commerce".
Protesters complained they were being denied their rights to peaceful assembly. "In cities across America, police are responding to peaceful protests with provocation, violence, and unconstitutional arrests," said Samuel Sinyangwe, a prominent activist with the group Campaign Zero and a close ally of Mckesson's.
Another 100 people were arrested during clashes with police in and around St Paul, Minnesota, where the death of Philando Castile after his shooting by a police officer last week was broadcast live on Facebook, causing widespread public anger.
As protesters blocked an interstate highway, police flooded streets in Bearcat military vehicles and used smoke bombs to break up demonstrations. The police chief, Todd Axtell, said about 20 of his officers had been struck with bottles, rocks and other items pelted at them by crowds, which he said was "a disgrace".
Dozens more protesters were detained by police during protests in New York, Chicago, Atlanta, Baltimore and Phoenix, where police used teargas and pepper spray to disperse crowds. More protests were planned for late on Sunday, including in St Louis, Missouri, where in August 2014 an unarmed black 18-year-old was killed in the suburb of Ferguson in a flashpoint that continues to reverberate two years later.
Tensions have risen even as the city of Dallas mourns the assassination-style killings of five police officers last week by Johnson, a 25-year-old army veteran and member of the New Black Panther party.
On Sunday, the Dallas police chief, David Brown, said investigators had found bomb-making equipment and written evidence indicating that Johnson was plotting attacks "large enough to have devastating effects throughout our city and our north Texas area".
"We're convinced that this suspect had other plans, and thought what he was doing was righteous," he added.
Meanwhile, US President Barack Obama cut short a visit to Europe early this week and will travel to Dallas before convening a summit at the White House between police chiefs and community leaders. Speaking Spain on Sunday, he defended the "messy and controversial" tradition of American protest but reiterated his condemnation of violence against law enforcement.
"Whenever those of us who are concerned about failure of the criminal justice system attack police, you are doing a disservice to the cause," Obama said.
Also on Sunday, Dallas's mayor, Mike Rawlings, said marchers carrying weapons and dressed in body armor had distracted law enforcement from the actual gunman on Thursday, telling CBS's Face the Nation that other individuals carrying guns on the scene "took our eye off the ball for a moment".
Source: News Agencies, Edited by website team
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