Trending Topics

Minn. police hit with bottles, rocks at protests following shooting

Squad cars also received significant damages, a police spokesperson said

Associated Press

MINNEAPOLIS — Minneapolis police said several officers sustained minor injuries during a protest over the shooting of a black man by an officer.

Inspector Mike Friestleben told the Minneapolis Star Tribune that the officers were hurt Wednesday night after being hit by water bottles and rocks. Scores of protesters had gathered outside the 4th Precinct headquarters, near where 24-year-old Jamar Clark was shot Sunday. He died a day later.

Friestleben also said police arrested one man on suspicion of slashing the tires of an unmarked squad car.

Police told TV station WCCO several squad cars in the precinct parking lot sustained “significant damage” from bricks.

Minneapolis Mayor Betsy Hodges issued a statement saying she and police Chief Janee Harteau urged officers to exercise restraint and protesters to act peacefully.

Police used a chemical irritant to control a crowd of protesters outside a precinct office.

Police spokesman John Elder said chemical spray has been coming from both police and the crowd.

Scores of protesters are massed outside the 4th Precinct headquarters in north Minneapolis. Earlier Wednesday, police cleared the entryway where demonstrators had camped out since the shooting of 24-year-old Jamar Clark early Sunday. Clark died a day later.

According to tweets from the Minneapolis Police Department, police used a chemical irritant after officers trying to remove tarps had rocks and bottles thrown at them. In another incident, police say an officer was hit by an irritant sprayed by a protester.

Police say they also have fired one marking round to identify a man who was throwing bricks.

Copyright 2015 Associated Press

RECOMMENDED FOR YOU