Louisville Braces for More Clashes Following Breonna Taylor Ruling
Louisville on Thursday braced for a second night of protests after two police officers were shot during demonstrations over a decision by a grand jury to bring no direct charges against policemen in the fatal shooting…
Louisville on Thursday braced for a second night of protests after two police officers were shot during demonstrations over a decision by a grand jury to bring no direct charges against policemen in the fatal shooting of Breonna Taylor.
The protests erupted in the Kentucky city on Wednesday immediately after the state attorney general announced that none of the three white officers involved in a deadly, botched raid on Taylor’s apartment would have to face charges of causing the Black woman’s death. One officer was indicted on charges of endangering her neighbors.
Civil rights activists decried the outcome as a miscarriage of justice in keeping with a nationwide pattern of unwarranted police violence against minorities.
The demonstration that started peacefully on Wednesday night turned violent after dark when the two officers were shot and wounded. Police arrested 127 people in Louisville.
Clashes between police and demonstrators on Louisville’s streets were the latest incident in a wave of protests that gripped the country over the summer following the deaths of several African Americans in the hands of police officers in incidents caught on cellphone video.
On Wednesday, protests also flared up in New York, Los Angeles, Atlanta and Seattle. In Portland, Oregon, the scene of more than 100 straight nights of protests, police once again declared a riot on Wednesday in the unrest that followed the grand jury decision.
Leaders of the Louisville anti-racism protesters have yet to announce plans for Thursday night, but typically they give little advance notice of their plans. In New York, organizers have already scheduled two Breonna Taylor events for Thursday afternoon in Brooklyn.