Protests including gunfire erupted in Louisville, Kentucky, in the southeast of the United States, following a judicial decision not to file criminal charges against police officers in the case of the killing of a black woman inside her home months ago.
Last night, local time, hundreds of anti-racism activists, including supporters of the "Black Lives Matter" movement, demonstrated amid Louisville to denounce the decision, chanting slogans including "No justice, no peace."
Simultaneously, demonstrations took place in New York, Washington, Chicago, Atlanta and Philadelphia, according to the Associated Press.
During the demonstration in Louisville, a gunman shot and wounded two policemen, requiring one of them to undergo surgery, according to local police, who said that a suspect had been arrested in the incident.
The Associated Press said that skirmishes took place between the demonstrators and the police, who arrested 12 of them, and units of the National Guard were deployed in the city in anticipation of wider protests.
Police surrounding a demonstrator in Louisville (Anadolu Agency)
The charges are reduced,
and the jury did not charge the two policemen involved in the killing of the black citizen who was working in the medical field.
The authority was content to file 3 charges of the first degree of endangering the lives of others against the former officer Brett Hankison, one of 3 policemen who participated in the raid on the home of the black woman Briona Taylor on March 13, and during the operation two white policemen shot the woman, killing her. .
The public prosecutor considered - citing the jury's decision - that the shooting of the woman was justified because her friend then shot one of the policemen, wounding him in the leg, while he was not in legitimate self-defense at the time.
For his part, the FBI is still investigating the circumstances of the raid, according to the Associated Press.
The raid on Briona's house took place after midnight, according to a search warrant authorizing the sudden storming, and at that time she was woken from her bed before she was shot with several bullets, and the incident caused protests in the city that lasted for months.
For his part, the lawyer for Briona Taylor's family denounced the jury's decision and described it as disgraceful.
Tylo's case adds more tension to the American street, which has been witnessing for months the large protests sparked by the killing of the young black George Floyd in Minnesota in late May.