Protests continue over fatal police shooting

Jamar Clark, 24, was shot last week by police two blocks from the 4th Precinct police station and died as a result of his injuries when his family made a decision to disconnect life support. The governor’s attention is just another sign that the dispute has quickly escalated tensions between police of Black Lives Matter protesters in Minneapolis.

Minneapolis Mayor Betsy Hodges has requested a federal human rights investigation into the shooting from the U.S. Department of Justice.

In a separate development, police in Chicago are under court order to release by Wednesday a police video of the fatal shooting of a black 17-year-old by a white police officer there. We have been on the ground witnessing an outpouring of love, food and clothing donations, chanting, singing, and productive ways of channeling rage and grief in light of the shooting death of Jamar Clark by polic.

State and federal investigators said they will not release surveillance footage from the scene until the investigation is concluded, over protesters’ objections. He said one of the officers later comes back into view. An encampment of protesters outside a Minneapolis police station vowed Saturday to maintain their vigil ov…

Activists who say James Clark, 24, was handcuffed when fatally shot blocked the entrance to Police Headquarters November 15.

And after a lengthy meeting with north side community members on Sunday, Black Lives Matter Minneapolis members say they can only promise the protests will continue through Sunday and Monday nights.

On Thursday, Minnesota U.S. Rep. Keith Ellison tweeted a photo of his son at the protest scene with his hands up and an officer with a gun in the background, calling it “agonizing for me to see”.

Officers say Clark was a suspect in an assault, and was interfering with paramedics treating the victim. “There’s just a very brief fragment where Mr. Clark and one of the officers encounter each other, then they disappear from sight”, he said.

A Clark family member asked that there be no protest on the day of the funeral because the family does not want the service to be political.

McKnight says a funeral for her cousin Jamar Clark has been scheduled for Wednesday at Shiloh Temple worldwide in Minneapolis. McDonald had a knife, the authorities say, and earlier punctured a squad car’s tire with it and refused to drop it.

“If the whole reason that the tape is not being released to the public is because it would impede the investigation or cause people to draw conclusions one way or the other, the governor’s statement could be perceived in a similar way, as potentially shaping public opinion surrounding this issue”, said Levy-Pounds, who’s called for the release of all tapes held by authorities.

Police have disputed that. She expressed faith in the state investigation but said the city needs “all the tools we have available to us”. Over the past year, protests against killings of unarmed black men and women – a few videotaped with phones or police cameras – have rocked a number of cities.

The Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension is investigating the shooting and a federal criminal civil rights investigation is also underway.