Vol. 79/No. 45 December 14 , 2015
(front page)
Protests in Twin Cities: ‘Arrest cops
who killed Jamar Clark!’
MINNEAPOLIS — As protests calling for the prosecution of the cops responsible for the Nov. 15 shooting death of 24-year-old Jamar Clark continue into their third week, city officials and some Black political figures are pressuring demonstrators to shut down their around-the-clock encampment in front of the 4th Precinct police station.
Protests swelled when five protesters were shot Nov. 23 near the encampment by racists they were escorting from the area who had been harassing them. Felony charges were filed seven days later against Allen Scarsella, who says he fired the shots that hit the five protesters, and three other racists. Scarsella and another man had gone to the encampment Nov. 19, making racist comments. They filmed a video of themselves, one holding a gun, saying they intended to carry out “reverse cultural enriching.” At the end of the video, one says “stay white.”
The encampment continues to be the focal point for rallies, meetings, and other protest actions. On Nov. 28, 150 people rallied in a solidarity action called by East Africans in the area. The next day a religious service took place.
The same day charges were filed against the four racists, Democratic Farmer-Labor Mayor Betsy Hodges called on protesters to take down their encampment. Congressman Keith Ellison, the most prominent African-American politician in the area, joined her.
Campfire smoke is hurting air quality, Hodges said, and protesters are blocking emergency vehicles and snowplows.
Hodges also charged protesters with harassing police. “There have been near-daily threats to burn the precinct, kill our officers and to hurt people, causing harm and fear that must end,” she said.
Ellison said the actions against police brutality have attracted “domestic terrorists … to the protest to start trouble.”
“We will not let politics or politicians drive a wedge between us,” Kandace Montgomery of Black Lives Matter told the Minneapolis Star Tribune. “We will not allow white supremacists to terrorize us.”
Minneapolis NAACP President Nekima Levy-Pounds said her organization stands in solidarity with the protesters’ encampment and their demands for justice for Clark and all victims of police violence.
Minneapolis cops Mike Ringgenberg and Dustin Schwarze were the ones involved in Clark’s death, authorities say, although they have not said which one fired the shot that killed him.
Cops confronted Clark, saying he was disrupting paramedics aiding his girlfriend after a domestic dispute. Eyewitnesses from the neighborhood say Clark had been handcuffed before he was shot. Lt. Bob Kroll, head of the Police Officers Federation and de facto spokesperson for the two cops, claims Clark was trying to take an officer’s gun.
One of protesters’ central demands is that the state Bureau of Criminal Apprehension, which is conducting the investigation, release videos of the shootings. The bureau says it has cellphone video and video from a nearby ambulance dashcam, public housing surveillance and mobile police cameras.
More than 400 people attended Clark’s funeral Nov. 25, which was open to the public. After the ceremony the funeral procession drove past the encampment. Funeral-goers honked their horns and leaned out of car windows, fists raised. Protesters lining both sides of the street did likewise.
Related articles:
Chicago protests win arrest in cop killing of Black youth
Mobilizations lead to firing of police chief
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