Three men held in connection with shooting of Minnesota demonstrators

The group had already been occupying the space outside the police precinct since November 15 for Jamar Clark, the 24-year-old Black man who was shot by Minneapolis police to compel the police to release the video footage of the shooting.

Allen Lawrence “Lance” Scarsella III, 23, was arrested in Bloomington.

Nathan Wayne Gustavsson, 21; and Daniel Thomas Macey, 26, are all being held without bail at Hennepin County Jail.

Protesters have remained at the Fourth Precinct for more than a week, calling for justice in the death of 24-year-old Jamar Clark, who was shot by police after an altercation.

With the shooting of five Black Lives Matter protesters at a Minneapolis demonstration Monday, the movement has once more captured headlines.

Family members and community leaders renewed their calls for justice at the funeral of Jamar Clark, the unarmed black man shot and killed by police officers 10 days ago in Minneapolis. The activists decried the attack as an attempt to intimidate them, and hundreds showed up to protest the following day.

Some people entering the church wore white T-shirts with “I matter” on the front or T-shirts with Clark’s photo on them, while others were dressed formally.

Some people who say they saw the incident claim Clark was handcuffed when he was shot, which police have disputed.

A Black Lives Matter Minneapolis official said several men wearing masks approached the precinct station demonstrators late Monday.

The search continues for one more shooting suspect, police said.

Meanwhile, Reisha Williams, communications chair of the Minneapolis NAACP, told CNN that she as well as others who were present believe that either the police were involved in the attack, or stood idly by, allowing them to occur. Their injuries were not life threatening.

Protesters have constantly occupied the 4th Precinct since soon after the shooting. As he flashes the gun, he explains amid racial slurs that the men are headed to the Black Lives Matter protest outside Minneapolis’ Fourth Precinct police headquarters.

A major driver in the protest is a demand that investigators release videos taken at the Clark shooting scene.

“We are locked and loaded”, he says, holding up a black 1911-style pistol.

As the 4th Precinct protest continues, it appears demonstrators are settling in for the long haul. Because the video has no audio track, it is hard to ascertain its content, but it shows what looks like the beginning of a scuffle after a tense exchange between protesters and the videographer.

On Monday, a shooting happened just north of the encampment as protesters were ushering three alleged white supremacists away. This situation also underlines the urgency of building a new political force for the 99% independent of both corporate parties whose representatives refuse corporate donations and who stand unambiguously on the side of working people, people of color, immigrants, women, sexual minorities, and all those targeted by big business and right-wing bigots.

Clark’s funeral service was preceded by a two-hour viewing, during which a seemingly unending stream of family filed past the casket, Clark’s face covered with a thin white veil.

While the congressman has called for the protesters to re-strategize, protesters have recently said they’re not going anywhere. “The family of Jamar Clark has been traumatized by the violent manner of his loss, the absence of information or explanation for the shooting and the challenge of navigating their grief amid the glare of media attention and among competing political agendas…” A department spokesman said he doesn’t know if the shots were related to the protest.