Protesters encamped at a Minneapolis police station demanded the prosecution of the two officers involved in the fatal shooting of an unarmed black man, the Associated Press reports.
Mel Reeves, a longtime Minneapolis civil rights activist, told AP on Saturday night that witness statements are enough to get the process started. He said the officers should be arrested and “go through the same procedures that we do. We think they’re guilty, but let the court decide.”
According to the official version, Officers Mark Ringgenberg and Dustin Schwarze were responding to an assault last Sunday. They found Jamar Clark, 24, at the scene hindering the paramedics. Authorities said that one of the officers shot Clark in a scuffle. Some witnesses said that Clark was handcuffed, which the officers deny. The officers are now on administrative leave while officials investigate the shooting.
The protesters vowed Saturday to continue their vigil until authorities release a surveillance video of the incident. But officials have said that the footage doesn’t show what happened clearly and would interfere with its probe. The available videos come from mobile phones and public housing surveillance cameras, as well as ambulance and mobile police cameras.
Minnesota Gov. Mark Dayton met with Clark’s family and local Black Lives Matter leaders on Saturday. He said that a U.S. Justice Department attorney joined the meeting by phone and backed his concerns about releasing the video at this point in the investigation.
A local union is supporting the protesters. AP reports that Kyle Edwards of AFSCME Local 3800 said at a union-organized event on Saturday that working-class people are realizing that “we’re all in this together.”
Read more at ABC News.