Brutal US regime forces arrest 10 more protesters in Milwaukee
US police have apprehended nearly a dozen more protesters in the city of Milwaukee, where police fatal shooting of an African-American man has sparked a wave of unrest.
Police forces and law enforcement officers in Milwaukee said on Tuesday that they had arrested at least 10 people in the day, bringing the number of detained demonstrators to a total of 27 since Saturday, when 23-year-old Sylville Smith was killed by an officer during a foot chase.
The shooting prompted protesters on Saturday and Sunday to set fire to half a dozen businesses, smash cars and pelt stones at police on Milwaukee’s north side.
The chaos peaked when a gas station was torched and gunshots prevented firefighters from doing their job.
Debris was thrown at police officers as they attempted to disperse protesters and gunshots were heard during the skirmishes.
An 18-year-old man was shot and injured and seven cops were wounded after protesters pelted them with rocks and bricks, according to Milwaukee Police Chief Ed Flynn.
At least seven police cars sustained heavy damage as a result of the violence.
Cars stand burned in the lot of the BP gas station after rioters clashed with police in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, August 14, 2016. (AFP Photo)
Following the unrest, the city mayor decided to impose a 10 pm-curfew for teens in an attempt to quell the violence and restore calm.
According to reports, Smith was fleeing a traffic stop on foot and had allegedly turned with a gun in hand toward the pursuing officer, who has been put on administrative duty and is awaiting an investigation.
The incident comes amid renewed anger over the fatal shooting of several young African Americans by police around the US in recent weeks.
Last month, Alton Sterling was shot and killed after an altercation with police officers in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. One day after Sterling’s death, Philando Castile was fatally shot by police in his car in Falcon Heights, Minnesota.
Those police killings triggered two separate revenge attacks by two black military veterans against white officers, killing 5 officers in Dallas, Texas, and 3 officers in Baton Rouge.
Police killed over 1,150 people in 2015, with the largest police departments disproportionately killing at least 321 African Americans, according to data compiled by an activist group that runs the Mapping Police Violence project.
