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KENOSHA, Wisconsin: Approximately 1,000 people joined a one-mile march in Kenosha, Wisconsin on Saturday (Aug. 29), chanting “Black lives matter” and “No justice, no peace” as units of the National Guard stood by to prevent a resurgence of violence. That rocked the lakeside town earlier in the week.
Jacob Blake Sr., father of the 29-year-old black man whose shooting by a white police officer on Sunday sparked riots, called on protesters to refrain from looting and vandalism.
“The good people of this city understand. If we break it we have nothing,” he said at a meeting in a park that was the center of protests in support of his son, Jacob Blake Jr. “Enough. Show them for one” night not we have to break anything. “
A woman reacts at a vigil following the police shooting of Jacob Blake, a black man, in Kenosha, Wisconsin, United States, on August 28, 2020. REUTERS / Brendan McDermid
Blake’s shooting, in front of three of his sons, made the mostly white city of 100,000 south of Milwaukee the latest flash point in a summer of protests across the United States against police brutality and racism.
LEE: Black man Jacob Blake shot by police in the city of Wisconsin, says the governor
Trump will visit Kenosha on Tuesday to meet with law enforcement officials and assess the damage in the city, a White House official told reporters Saturday.
Blake, 29, survived but was seriously injured and paralyzed from the waist down. He is likely to participate via video from his hospital room in a court hearing next week on criminal charges prior to the shooting, his lawyer told Reuters on Saturday, adding that he would plead not guilty.
Anger over Blake’s shooting, captured in video that went viral, led to street skirmishes; protesters threw firecrackers and bricks at police in riot gear who fired volleys of tear gas and rubber bullets. On Tuesday night, a white teenager with a semiautomatic rifle fired at three protesters and two of them were killed.
LEE: Teen arrested for shooting in protest in Wisconsin
In Kenosha on Saturday, people painted messages of unity on blackboards protecting store windows after many businesses were set on fire and destroyed by vandalism.
Residents hoped the calm would remain for a fourth night as protesters, some in “Justice for Jacob” masks, spoke out about the need for racial justice.
“We’re tired,” said Darius Johnson, 27, of Milwaukee. “There is no excuse for this kind of racism. It could have been any of us, my brother, my sister. It must stop.”
People use their phones near a member of the Wisconsin National Guard while others gather for a vigil, following the Jacob Blake police shooting in Kenosha, Wisconsin, USA, August 28, 2020. REUTERS / Brendan McDermid
The 17-year-old suspect in Tuesday night’s killings, Kyle Rittenhouse, turned himself in to police Wednesday near his home in Illinois, near the Wisconsin border. Kenosha officials have come under fire for videos showing law enforcement officers giving him water before the outbreak of violence and acting as friends with armed militiamen in the streets.
By Friday, more than 1,000 National Guard soldiers were on the ground in Kenosha, many from other states.
When Kenosha entered curfew at 7 pm local time, Chicago authorities blocked the streets and prepared for mourning demonstrations along the city’s “Magnificent Mile,” a 13-block stretch of the city. Michigan Avenue in downtown, media said. Some were planning to protest police brutality, while others were preparing to demonstrate in support of the police, they said.
FILE PHOTO: People attend a vigil following the Jacob Blake police shooting in Kenosha, Wisconsin, USA, August 28, 2020. REUTERS / Brendan McDermid
ARGUMENT FROM SELF-DEFENSE
Rittenhouse is being held without bail and awaiting an extradition hearing to return him to Wisconsin to face six criminal charges, including first degree murder, reckless endangerment and illegal possession of a firearm.
His lawyers have indicated that he would argue in self-defense.
“Kyle Rittenhouse stood up to protect his community and his country. He defended himself. We will no longer let America’s cities burn. Mayors and governors had their chance. They failed,” said John Pierce, one of the attorneys. from Rittenhouse, on Twitter.
LEE: The Kenosha defendant’s lawyer protests the gunman says the teenager acted in self-defense
Blake, who has undergone multiple surgeries since the shooting, had been handcuffed to a hospital bed due to an outstanding warrant. The handcuffs were removed Friday and officers guarding Blake withdrew after the court order was overturned, according to his attorney, Pat Cafferty.
The order was based on a criminal complaint filed against Blake in July. The complaint shows that Blake’s ex-girlfriend, a mother of three of his children, told police that Blake broke into her home on May 3 and sexually assaulted her before stealing her truck and debit card.
Wisconsin Attorney General Josh Kaul said this week police confronted Blake when he was called to the home of a woman who had reported her “boyfriend was present” without permission, and officers attempted to arrest him. Kaul said efforts to subdue Blake with a taser failed, and that investigators later recovered a knife from the floor of the car Blake was leaning on when he was shot.
On Friday, the Kenosha Police Union defended the officers, saying Blake was armed with a knife, fought the officers and had several opportunities to cooperate before they used deadly force.
Blake’s family and his attorneys have said he did not provoke or threaten the police.
“What gave them the right to try to murder my son. What gave them the right to think my son was an animal,” Blake’s father told the crowd. “I’m tired of this.”
