News / Society

Arrests made as police use tear gas to disperse protesters at Brooklyn Center police station

Saturday, 17 April 2021 6:30 AM [ Last Update: Saturday, 17 April 2021 6:51 AM ]

Tear gas fills the air during a protest near the Brooklyn Center Police Department following the deadly police shooting of Daunte Wright.

Hundreds of protesters have gathered outside a Minneapolis police station to protest the fatal shooting of African-American Daunte Wright at the hands of a police officer.

Chanting “Black lives matter!” and holding signs calling for justice for 20-year-old Wright, an estimated thousand people rallied outside the heavily guarded Brooklyn Center police station on Friday night.

It was the sixth consecutive night of protest in the city since Sunday, when a former while officer, Kim Potter, shot and killed Wright during a traffic stop. She has since been charged with second-degree manslaughter.

Brooklyn Center originally did not plan to impose a curfew in response to the protests, but as the rallies grew in size and intensity, the city issued a last-minute emergency proclamation imposing a curfew from 11 pm to 6 am.

Protesters, police clash for 3rd night in Minneapolis, 60 arrested

Some agitated protesters shouted profanities at law enforcement, launched fireworks, shook a security fence surrounding the police station and hurled bottles at officers. Roughly around 9:30 pm, the outer fence surrounding the building was breached.

Police tried to disperse the crowd with tear gas grenades, rubber bullets, flash-bang grenades and long lines of riot police. National Guard soldiers were deployed to the area, and a number of protesters were arrested.

'Gassing protesters no human way'

At a news conference on Friday, Brooklyn Center Mayor Mike Elliott condemned the use of tear gas by local police officers on demonstrators, saying, “Gassing is not a human way of policing.”

On Monday, the Brooklyn Center City Council passed a measure to ban local officers from using chemicals such as tear gas, police lines and chokeholds to arrest protesters.

Police say Wright was pulled over for expired tags, but tried to take him into custody after discovering that he had an outstanding arrest warrant, which had been issued for his failure to appear in court in June.

Officer charged with 2nd-degree manslaughter over killing of Daunte...

Body camera video shows Wright struggling with officers and Potter pulling her service pistol and repeatedly yelling “Taser” before firing at him. Police later said that Potter, a 26-year veteran, had mistakenly fire her firearm believing it was a Taser.

Minneapolis was already on edge amid the trial of former Minneapolis Police Officer Derek Chauvin in the death of African-American George Floyd last May.

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