Hundreds of people have again taken to the streets to protest against police brutality in the United States after another African-American man was killed Sunday by an officer who opened fire on him during a traffic control.
The demonstration has concentrated in the city of Minneapolis, where George Floyd was assassinated last May, a case that sparked numerous protests nationwide against racism and the excessive use of force.
The protesters have gathered next to the Brooklyn Center Police Department, although the agents have used tear gas and rubber balls to disperse the crowd, according to information from CNN, which has indicated that they have also been deployed in the area of the National Guard.
Agents have reported that the police premises, adjacent to the Brooklyn Center, have been badly damaged. As they have explained, the protesters opened fire and threw heavy objects and stones against the facade.
The man who died Sunday has been identified as 20-year-old Daunte Wright. The governor of Minnesota, Tim Walz, has indicated that he is monitoring the situation and has asserted that the state is “in mourning over the death of a black man at the hands of a law enforcement officer.”
Minneapolis had recently been the scene of protests against police brutality in the context of the trial of Officer Derek Chauvin, accused of having killed Floyd by suffocating him during an arrest.
Now, Wirght’s mother, Katie Wright, has said that her son called her on the phone Sunday to say that the police had stopped him for having an air freshener hanging from his rear view mirror – something that is prohibited in Minnesota.
“I heard a discussion, then the agents told him not to run,” he said before clarifying that the call ended and that, when he called again, his girlfriend answered saying that he had died.
In a statement, the police have stressed that the agents stopped a man for committing a traffic violation at 2:00 p.m. before discovering that he had an arrest warrant pending.
When the officers tried to stop him, the man got into the vehicle again, for which one of the policemen shot him. The man drove several blocks before crashing into another car.