In the American city of Atlanta, Georgia, a new wave of protests broke out against racism and police violence.  

On the night of Friday to Saturday, a 27-year-old African-American, Reichard Brooks, was mortally wounded as a result of being detained by police on June 12.

It is reported that Brooks fell asleep in a car at one of the fast-food restaurants. The car interfered with other visitors and they called the police. An alcohol test revealed that the African American was drunk. When law enforcement officers tried to detain him, the man resisted, grabbed a stun gun from one of the policemen and tried to escape, after which the security officer used weapons. The incident was shot by an eyewitness on the phone, and also recorded on a surveillance camera of one of the representatives of the rule of law.

During a June 13 press conference, Keisha Mayor Lance Bottoms said she did not consider the actions of a law enforcement official to be justified.

“I don’t think it was a legitimate use of weapons, and I called for the immediate dismissal of the policeman,” Bottoms said.

In an interview with CNN that same day, police spokesman Carlos Campos announced that Atlanta’s police department had fired an officer who allegedly shot and killed Raisard Brooks. Another police officer involved in the incident was sent on administrative leave.

Moreover, after the incident, Atlanta police chief Erica Shields resigned, saying the time had come to increase trust between law enforcement and the public.

“Since I deeply and invariably love this city and its police department, I proposed to step down as head of the city’s police. I fully support the police department of Atlanta and Mayor Bottoms in the further direction of its development. I believe in the mayor, and it is time for the city to move forward and build trust between the law enforcement agencies and the communities they serve, ”said Shields.

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In turn, the Georgia Bureau of Investigation has already announced that an investigation has been launched into the incident.

However, the measures taken by local authorities to the activists seemed insufficient. Last night, more than 100 people blocked one of the highways in Atlanta and set fire to a cafe near which a policeman shot at an African American. This is reported by local media. Demonstrators called to institute criminal proceedings against the officer who used the weapon. To disperse the protesters, the police had to use their cars and tear gas. 

Demonstration Starting Point

A new wave of protests against racism and police violence in Atlanta began against the backdrop of ongoing demonstrations and riots in the United States due to the death of African American George Floyd after being detained by police. Earlier, a video appeared on the network, which shows how one of the policemen, during the arrest, pressed the man with his knee to the ground, pressing hard on the neck area. Floyd complained several times about the lack of air, and then lost consciousness.

All four security officials involved in Floyd's detention were fired. The policeman who used force to detain him was charged with murder. However, the demonstrations did not stop. Demonstrators across the country are demanding that authorities bring law enforcement to greater responsibility.

The day before in New Orleans, protesters against racism demolished the bust of slave owner John McDonough and dumped him into the river. This was reported by the local branch of Fox News. It is specified that the activists carried the bust through the streets, loaded its parts onto trucks and delivered to the river. Car drivers were later detained.

It is worth noting that after the protests began to be accompanied by pogroms, looting and arson, in the United States they started talking about tightening control over the police and the need to reform law enforcement agencies.

On June 8, a number of congressmen presented a bill to reform the US police. House speaker Rep. Nancy Pelosi reported on his details during a press conference. According to the politician, the document involves increasing responsibility for police abuse, as well as tightening control over law enforcement agencies. As explained by Pelosi, the police are waiting for serious structural changes. Law enforcement officers will be required to have video cameras in their cars and uniforms, and security officials will be prohibited from using asphyxiating techniques and searches without warning in cases involving drugs.

Moreover, in some states they even proposed to abolish the police and create an alternative structure instead. In particular, the Minneapolis City Council adopted a resolution according to which a “new model for strengthening public security” will be developed. And in Seattle, activists organized a "police free" zone.

  • US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, Senate minority leader Chuck Schummer and Congressional Democrats during a minute of silence in honor of the dead African American George Floyd, June 8
  • Reuters
  • © Jonathan Ernst

“To warm up the protest mood”

As Vladimir Batyuk, head of the Center for Political and Political Studies at the Institute for US and Canadian Studies of the Russian Academy of Sciences, noted in an interview with RT, unceasing protests in the US indicate that police violence and racial inequality in the country "have become serious problems for American society."

“However, the reasons for such a massive demonstration and the aggressiveness of its participants are associated with the deep socio-economic crisis in the United States, which arose as a result of the coronavirus pandemic,” the expert said.

According to Batiuk, the prerequisites for such rallies in the United States "have been accumulating for quite some time." But this year the situation escalated, “when people saw the authorities’s inability to fully cope with the economic downturn due to the spread of COVID-19 and the serious problems that have emerged in the US healthcare system.”

“All this overlapped and led to an explosion, which made it possible for those serious socio-economic problems that had been brewing for a long time to manifest themselves. At the same time, the tragic death of the black American Floyd served as a trigger, ”the analyst explained.

At the same time, as Batyuk emphasized, not only the black population, but also white Americans, as well as representatives of other races participate in the protests.

“This suggests that for the middle class in the US, the American dream is gradually coming to naught. This layer of the population, on which the stability of the United States was based and which previously could boast of a sufficient level of prosperity, now suffers serious losses, their business is declining, ”the expert said.

The same position is shared by the director of the US Roosevelt Foundation for the Study of the USA at Moscow State University, Yuri Rogulev. According to him, “the story of Floyd is still alive in the minds of the Americans,” and new such cases will only increase the protest mood.

  • Protests after the death of George Floyd in Washington, June 13
  • Reuters
  • © Erin Scott

“The situation with police violence repeated in another city. And this can no longer go unnoticed by ordinary Americans or local authorities, ”the analyst said in an interview with RT.

At the same time, according to Rogulev, cases of unjustified use of violence occurred not only during the administration of the current head of the White House, Donald Trump: many such incidents were recorded under the former US President Barack Obama.

“However, now the protests are not abating due to the fact that a complex tangle of problems has formed in the USA. This is an epidemic and quarantine restrictive measures, an increase in the incidence and mortality of coronavirus in the United States. All this is accompanied by rising unemployment and falling purchasing power of the population, ”the expert explained.

At the same time, Vladimir Batyuk predicts that the situation in the US will only worsen over time.

“The prospects here are rather bleak, since the coronacrisis has not been overcome, and the measures of social support that the American authorities offered to society cannot be eternal. In summer, all these payments to the unemployed, tax benefits, mortgage loans will end. And then the protest mood may increase even more, ”the analyst said.

According to Yuri Rogulev, the confrontation between the population and law enforcement authorities will continue at least until the end of the US presidential election, which is scheduled for this fall.

“After all, these protests are actively used by opponents of Trump for political purposes - this is another reason that they do not fade. Parts of the political elite are simply beneficial. And the approaching final stage of the election campaign will most likely be accompanied by attempts by opponents of the current head of the White House to warm up the protest moods and use them for their own purposes, ”the expert concluded.