CHARLOTTE: Protesters took to the streets for a third night in the US city of Charlotte on Thursday amid heavy security aimed at preventing more clashes over the fatal police shooting of a black man.
\nHundreds marched to the city police station carrying signs saying “Stop killing us” and “Resistance is beautiful,” but the atmosphere was far calmer than the previous two nights.
\nPressure was growing on police to release video of the shooting of Keith Lamont Scott, a 43-year-old African American, whose killing on Tuesday sparked the unrest.
\nScott\u2019s death was the latest in a string of police-involved killings of black men that have fueled outrage across te United States.
\nNorth Carolina\u2019s governor has declared a state of emergency in Charlotte, and several hundred National Guard troops and highway police officers were deployed to reinforce local police protecting city infrastructure and businesses.
\nAn overnight curfew was also in place.
\n“We are going to be a lot more proactive,” Charlotte police chief Kerr Putney told a news conference. “We made 44 arrests last night because we are not going to tolerate the behavior.”
\nA protestor shot by a civilian in Wednesday night\u2019s protests died in hospital on Thursday, local media reported.
\nScott was shot and killed in an apartment complex parking lot on Tuesday during an encounter with police officers searching for another person wanted for arrest.
\nConflicting versions of what happened — police say Scott was armed with a handgun while his family says he was holding a book — fueled the angry protests.
\nThe authorities have so far refused to release police video of the incident.
\nHowever, members of Scott\u2019s family watched the footage on Thursday, raising “more questions than answers,” their lawyers said.
\nNo gun is visible in the video, which shows Scott stepping backward when he was shot, one of the lawyers told CNN.
\n“His hands are down by his side. He is acting calm,” Justin Bamberg said. “You do see something in his hand, but it\u2019s impossible to make out from the video what it is.”
\nPutney has said a handgun was recovered at the scene, and that no book was found, contrary to the family\u2019s assertion.
\nThe video footage “does not give me absolute definitive visual evidence that would confirm that a person is pointing a gun,” he told CNN.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
CHARLOTTE: Protesters took to the streets for a third night in the US city of Charlotte on Thursday amid heavy security aimed at preventing more clashes over the fatal police shooting of a black man. Hundreds marched to the city police station carrying signs saying “Stop killing us” and “Resistance is beautiful,” but the atmosphere […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-4011","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-world"},"yoast_head":"\n