Charlotte lifts curfew after protests over fatal shooting

WASHINGTON DC, USA – Charlotte authorities lifted a curfew late Sunday, September 25, that had been set following sometimes violent protests over a fatal police shooting of a black man in the southern US city.

In a joint statement, Mayor Jennifer Roberts and the chairman of the Mecklenburg Board of County Commissioners, Trevor Fuller, urged the community to continue to “show their unity in a peaceful and legal manner.”

The curfew had been in place since Thursday, September 22, and was lifted “immediately,” the statement said.

A fresh round of protests took place Sunday, but they remained largely peaceful. 

Activists demonstrated at and boycotted an American football game between the NFL’s Carolina Panthers and the Minnesota Vikings to protest Keith Lamont Scott’s shooting death.

Protesters kneeled while the American national anthem played, in a repeat of protests by high-profile athletes in recent weeks over police brutality toward black men, with police in riot gear standing guard.

On Saturday, September 24, police yielded to pressure from politicians, community leaders and protesters to release footage of the shooting, but the images were inconclusive as to whether Scott actually carried a gun, as authorities have claimed.

“It does not make sense to us how this incident resulted in the loss of life… and it’s not clear in the videos that were released,” said Scott’s brother-in-law Ray Dotch.

But police said they had recovered a loaded gun bearing Scott’s DNA, and that he was wearing an ankle holster. They released photographs of those items and marijuana.

They also revealed that the confrontation was triggered after officers who were preparing to serve a warrant on another person noticed Scott was rolling a marijuana cigarette in his vehicle outside his apartment complex and saw him hold a gun up. – Rappler.com