Hundreds Of Protesters Arrested In Baton Rouge & St. Paul

Public outcry against the killings of Black men by police officers continue in the form of protest marches all over the country, following national protests on Thursday and Friday evenings. However, Saturday saw protests in Baton Rouge, LA, and St. Paul, MN, take a turn towards confrontation between demonstrators and police offers. Across the U.S., protesters took to the streets again on Saturday night in reaction to the fatal shootings of Alton Sterling and Philando Castile. But in addition to rallies in the cities where the incidents occurred, the Associated Press is reporting numerous arrests at other protests around the country.

The New York Times reports that DeRay McKesson, a high-profile activist and leader in the Black Lives Matter movement, was part of a group of people taken into custody in Baton Rouge, LA, where Sterling’s shooting took place on Tuesday. The Advocate, a local newspaper in Baton Rouge, is reporting that McKesson's arrest is one of 102 that took place last night.

Mr. McKesson documented his arrest on Periscope. In St. Paul, MN, the site of Castile’s killing, demonstrators blocked Interstate 94. The police used smoke bombs in an attempt to clear the site. On Twitter, the St. Paul Police Department confirmed that 50 arrests were made last night following the I-94 protest and another 52 were arrested during an incident at around 4:00 a.m. local time.