Dozens arrested in US during protests over police killings

Barack Obama to meet with relatives of the five police officers killed in Dallas

Dozens of people have been arrested in Louisiana’s state capital after a protest over recent police killings of black men.

Officers faced down hundreds of demonstrators near a ramp leading to an interstate highway in Baton Rouge on Sunday night before another squad in riot gear arrived and took dozens into custody.

Earlier on Sunday, some 2,000 protesters rallied outside the Capitol building, State Police Major Doug Cain said.

“They didn’t have any problems out there. They seemed to be very organised and peaceful,” he said.

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But by nightfall, a few hundred people aimed for a slip road on to Interstate 110, trying a tactic protesters were using over the weekend in multiple cities.

After a lengthy stand-off, more police in full riot gear moved in, pinning some of the protesters as others fled. Some 30 to 40 people were taken into custody for trying to block a highway, sheriff’s spokeswoman Casey Rayborn Hicks said.

That could push Baton Rouge’s weekend arrest total above 160, with just one reported injury to a police officer.

Flanked by law enforcement leaders, Governor John Bel Edwards said he does not believe officers have been overly aggressive by using riot gear to push protesters off a highway.

"I can assure everyone we are hearing the protesters," the governor said. "We are listening to their voices. But I'm especially gratified that our citizens here in Louisiana, to a very large degree, have decided to protest in a constructive and peaceful manner."

Tensions between black citizens and police have risen palpably after police shootings of African-American men in Minnesota and Louisiana and the gunning down of five white police officers by a black suspect in Dallas in apparent retaliation.

Dismayed at police response

Activists said they were dismayed by the police response.

“I remain disappointed in the Baton Rouge police, who continue to provoke protesters for peacefully protesting. There’s a lot of work to be done, with this police department specifically,” said DeRay Mckesson, a prominent Black Lives Matter activist.

The Baton Rouge police spokesman, Sergeant Don Coppola, blamed some violence and the large number of arrests on outside agitators. One officer lost teeth after a projectile was thrown outside police headquarters, and police also confiscated three rifles, three shotguns and two pistols during that protest, he wrote in an email.

But most of those detained live in Louisiana and faced a single charge of obstructing a highway, Ms Hicks told the Associated Press.

Other protests

The tumult reached well beyond Louisiana. Hundreds marched onto I-264 in Portsmouth, Virginia, marooning motorists for hours inside the area’s Downtown Tunnel recently. In recent days, demonstrators failed in a bid to block highways in Atlanta and Columbia, South Carolina, while in San Francisco police managed to keep them off the Bay Bridge.

In Minnesota, authorities said 21 law enforcement officers were hurt and about 100 people were arrested late on Saturday and early on Sunday during clashes in the state capital over the police killing of Philando Castile.

Demonstrations also took place on Saturday, beginning near the convenience store where 37-year-old Alton Sterling was killed by police. The protests then fanned out through the state Capitol.

Over the weekend, members of the New Black Panther Party for Self Defence called for the arrest and indictment of the officers involved in Mr Sterling's death, shouting "Black Power" and raising their fists. The US Justice Department has launched a civil rights investigation.

Obama visit

Meanwhile, the White House said Barack Obama will meet relatives of the five police officers killed in Dallas when a gunman opened fire on a protest march.

It released details of the visit the President will make to Dallas on Tuesday, after he was invited by city Mayor Mike Rawlings.

Mr Obama will meet privately with relatives of the police officers, at an event that will also be attended by Vice President Joe Biden, and by George W Bush and his wife Laura. The ex-president will deliver brief remarks.

The White House said Mr Obama plans to “personally express the nation’s support and gratitude” for the service and sacrifice of the dead officers.

He also will deliver remarks at an interfaith memorial service at the Morton H Meyerson Symphony Centre.

PA