Protests over police killing of black man continue in Charlotte

Protests over the police shooting of an African American have continued for the fifth night, with protesters marching in the center of Charlotte, North Carolina.

Hundreds of protesters took to the streets on Saturday night, holding rallies which stretched into Sunday morning.

The demonstrators were holding signs, one of them read “Stop police brutality” and another showed a picture of a bloody handprint with the phrase #AMINEXT, a social media tag symbolizing the fear of becoming a victim of police brutality.

On Saturday, Charlotte police released dash and body camera footage of the shooting death of Keith Lamont Scott.

The dash cam video shows the moment that Scott exits his vehicle and is shot by police officers a few seconds later. Additional body cam footage was also released, as well as a summary report of the confrontation.

Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Chief Kerr Putney acknowledged that the videos were “insufficient” to prove that Scott held a gun.

“There is no definitive visual evidence that he had a gun in his hand,” Putney said. “But what we do see is compelling evidence that, when you put all the pieces together, supports that.”

Scott’s family and protesters have been asserting that Scott was unarmed when he was shot.

“He doesn’t appear to be acting aggressively to the officers on the scene,” Justin Bamberg, a lawyer for the Scott family, told a news conference.

On Friday, Scott’s wife released another video, which lasts two minutes and twelve seconds, filming the scene of the incident.

The 43-year-old’s death outraged Black Lives Matter activists, leading to protests and clashes in the city.

Thousands of African Americans flooded the streets of the city to denounce the police shooting of Scott, however, the peaceful protests soon escalated into a violent encounter between angry protesters and police, forcing North Carolina Governor Pat McCrory to declare a state of emergency.