Louisiana police shooting protests move through Baton Rouge

Helmeted police moved in and kept a group of protesters late Sunday in Baton Rouge from entering a major artery, Interstate 110 in Baton Rouge, thwarting a tactic that social justice activists have increasingly tried in some major cities to protest the deaths.

About 30 people were arrested Friday night during a rally for Alton Sterling in Baton Rouge, according to reports from The Advocate.

A large presence of police officers stood guard on each street corner of the intersection where the protesters were.

Earlier Sunday, some 2,000 people rallied outside the Capitol building to protest police killings of black people, State Police Maj. In that case, four officers would break through the police line from behind and seize the protester before bringing them behind police lines to complete the arrest.

The arrest comes after Baton Rouge police came out in riot gear in an effort to keep the protest from spilling onto Airline Highway. Police made almost 200 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.

The mother of the son of a man killed by Louisiana police has denounced the killings of five police officers in Dallas during a protest over police shootings, including the one in which Alton Sterling died in Baton Rouge on Tuesday.

“Yesterday evening we were standing here … and they just started coming and attacking the crowd for no reason”, Carter said of police. “We were able to stop them before they were able to achieve that”.

“Kip must go, Kip must go”, protesters shouted Saturday. “Right now, we’re focusing on what happened to him”. “That is the past”, she said.

New Orleans residents accounted for almost half of the people who were arrested at protests that started Sunday in Baton Rouge, according to a list provided by Hicks. Candle-lit balloons were released into the hot night air nearby in honour of Mr Sterling and protesters waved signs and chanted slogans.

Kira Marrero, 22, of New Orleans, was the first protester freed from Baton Rouge’s jail on Sunday.

Police arrest activist DeRay McKesson during a protest in Louisiana.

Several demonstrations were held tonight by protesters in Baton Rouge, following the fatal shooting of Alton Sterling by police. It’s hard to tell why the officer pulled his weapon.

But we can’t let slain names on a list become just names, we must remember each individual’s legacy in order to demand that black lives do matter. “They seemed to be very organized and peaceful”, Cain said.

The counts for which the people face and the identities of those arrested were not made available by Baton Rouge police, and officials at the Parish Prison and the East Baton Rouge Sheriff’s office did not immediately respond to queries.

But Friday, tensions ratcheted up. After a brief standoff, police began ordering protesters out of the road and arrested anyone who refused to move. They got a job to do.

“The police in Baton Rouge have been truly very bad tonight”, McKesson said on the video. “You want to have every precautionary means that you may need.to disperse these crowds”.

Marguerite Gordon, a 42-year-old restaurant owner, was among those who sprawled on the plaza in front of the police department.

He said he believes police are “antagonizing” protesters.

Authorities reported one officer injured when he was hit by a projectile in Sunday’s protest.

Dallas Bishop Kevin J. Farrell said the city had been “swept up in the escalating cycle of violence that has now touched us intimately”.

The documents were released a day after the Justice Department opened a civil rights investigation into the shooting of Mr Sterling.

A statement from the Louisiana Interchurch Conference, which includes Christian churches from around the state, said “local religious leaders and civic authorities have called for calm as the investigation unfolds”.