Charlotte protesters ignore curfew, hold peaceful demos

TIL Desk/World/Charlotte-Protesters took to Charlotte’s streets for a third straight night and defied a midnight curfew in the US city early today, amid heavy security aimed at preventing more clashes over the fatal police shooting of a black man. Hundreds marched to the city police station carrying signs saying “Stop killing us” and “Resistance is beautiful,” but the atmosphere was far calmer than the previous two nights.

Several hundred protesters remained on the street following the midnight (0400 GMT) curfew, but security forces took a hands off approach and did not enforce the restriction. Pressure was growing on police to release video of the shooting of Keith Lamont Scott, a 43-year-old African American, whose killing on Tuesday sparked the unrest.

But members of Scott’s family watched the footage yesterday, raising “more questions than answers,” their lawyers said. Scott’s death was the latest in a string of police-involved killings of black men that have fueled outrage across the United States. North Carolina’s governor has declared a state of emergency in Charlotte, and several hundred National Guard troops and highway police officers were deployed to reinforce local police protecting city infrastructure and businesses.