Protesters against Minneapolis police shooting ousted from city council meeting
By Brendan O'Brien
MINNEAPOLIS (Reuters) - At least three protesters were removed from a Minneapolis city council meeting on Friday after they voiced their disapproval over how city leaders have handled the investigation of Sunday's police killing of an unarmed African-American man.
The protesters interrupted a regular city council meeting to complain about the way the city handles police misconduct issues. A day earlier, a number of city council members had joined ongoing demonstrations over the shooting.
Jamar Clark, 24, died on Monday night after his family decided to disconnect life support. Two officers under investigation in the incident have been identified, but their races have not been revealed.
Clark's death comes at a time of heightened national awareness of and debate over police use of lethal force, especially against blacks. Over the past year, protests against police killings of unarmed African Americans - some videotaped with phones or police cameras - have rocked a number of U.S. cities.
"This is atrocious. This is outrageous. They know what's going on... and they don't want to hear it," Michelle Gross, a community activist, said to reporters after she was ejected from the meeting.
Protesters, who have demanded release of video footage of the incident, say Clark was unarmed and handcuffed when he was shot.
Officials have confirmed that no weapon was found at the scene and that they are looking into whether Clark was handcuffed. The police union said Clark had grabbed one of the officers' guns, although the weapon remained in its holster.
Mayor Betsy Hodges has met with protesters to try to diffuse tensions, but says releasing video would jeopardize an investigation of the shooting by state authorities.
Hodges and Minnesota Governor Mark Dayton met on Friday with Cornell William Brooks, president of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, which has joined protests and pressured for release of videos that might clarify the shooting. There is no police video from dashboard cameras or body cameras, but investigators said there is partial footage from fixed security cameras in the area and an ambulance that was on the scene.
ONGOING PROTESTS
Police arrested two men on Thursday night for spray-painting profanities on an outside wall of the 4th District police station, which is two blocks from where Clark was shot and has been the focal point of protests all week.
The men face possible charges of felony damage to property.
About 30 students joined protesters at the precinct on Friday after marching from a nearby middle and high school, and more protests were planned for Friday evening.
Earlier in the week, police detained dozens of people who blocked a highway to protest the shooting. Police have also used pepper spray to break up protests, according to media reports.
Clark's brother, 32-year-old Jermaine Robinson, was among a small group of people who congregated on Friday at a shrine of balloons and liquor bottles where the shooting took place.
He said police may have confused his brother with someone else who was involved in a domestic violence situation in the area on Sunday.
(Writing by Fiona Ortiz; Editing by Dan Grebler)
