(Aurora) A car drove into the crowd and a protester was gunned down in suburban Denver, Aurora, during protests against racial injustice.
Posted on 26 July 2020 at 9 o'clock08
Associated Press
The Aurora Police Department said on Twitter that protesters were marching on the Interstate 54, Saturday, when a vehicle drove into them.
Police added that a protester fired a gun, hitting at least one person who was taken to a hospital where they were in stable condition.
PHOTO KEVIN MOHATT, REUTERS
A man shot in the leg was taken to hospital.
Authorities said the vehicle was towed away and that they had opened an investigation. Protesters also smashed the windows of the courthouse and a fire broke out in an office. The rally was declared illegal by police who ordered protesters to leave the area, authorities said.
Tensions have escalated over recent protests against racial injustice since federal agents were dispatched to quell protests in Portland, Oregon. Police called a protest in Seattle a riot on Saturday.
The demonstrations triggered by the death, on 19 May, of George Floyd, a black man from Minnesota who died after a white officer held him to the ground with one knee to his neck, have also highlighted other cases of deadly police violence.
In Colorado, protesters have drawn attention to the death of Elijah McClain, who was arrested by police while walking on a street in Aurora in August 2019 after a citizen called 500 to report him as a suspect.
The police put pressure on her neck and paramedics administered 500 milligrams of ketamine, a sedative , to calm him down. He went into cardiac arrest and was later declared brain dead.