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Protests continue in Minneapolis over police shooting

The protests were sparked by the death of Jamar Clark on Sunday. The 24-year-old black man was shot in the head during a confrontation with police.

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John Autey/Pioneer Press via AP
A Minneapolis police officer maintains a barricade outside a police station in Minneapolis on Wednesday. Protesters have been camping outside the building since the fatal shooting of an unarmed black man by a Minneapolis police officer on Sunday.
  • By Steve Karnowski Associated Press

| Minneapolis

Civil rights leaders appealed Thursday for Minneapolis police to exercise restraint, but the head of the police union said officers should get tougher with protesters after a night of tense confrontations over the fatal shooting of an unarmed black man by an officer.

The contrasting responses showed the strong emotion surrounding the incident four days after Jamar Clark, 24, was shot in the head during a confrontation with two officers. Police said he was a suspect in an assault and was interfering with paramedics trying to treat the victim. The state agency investigating the shooting, the Bureau of Criminal Apprehension, is looking into claims that Mr. Clark was handcuffed.

Police used a chemical irritant against protesters Wednesday night outside a north Minneapolis police station where demonstrators have gathered since the shooting.

The public response Thursday included a tweet from US Rep. Keith Ellison, whose son Jeremiah was shown in a Star Tribune photo that also included an officer in the background pointing a gun at a crowd of protesters.

"Photo is agonizing for me to see. My son is PEACEFULLY protesting w/ hands up; officer is shouldering gun. Why?" tweeted Ms. Ellison, a Minneapolis Democrat who is black.

Police said the officer's weapon shown in the photo fired non-lethal rounds that could be used to mark law-breaking protesters with chalk. Police spokesman John Elder said the gun wasn't pointed at Jeremiah Ellison.

Chief Janee Harteau said Thursday that officers themselves had been hit with pepper spray, Molotov cocktails, bottles, rocks, and bricks.

Chief Harteau said police would pursue arrests where they had evidence, but Bob Kroll, head of the Minneapolis police union, said the department should be moving more forcefully, including removal of tents that some protesters have set up outside the north side's 4th Precinct.

"It's chaos," Mr. Kroll said. "The officers are worn down."

He added of the protesters: "They should not have been allowed to pitch one tent, set one fire, or block the entryway for one minute."

Nekima Levy-Pounds, president of the Minneapolis NAACP, said police need to back down.

"It shows a militarization of the police force in the city of Minneapolis," Ms. Levy-Pounds said.

The NAACP called for a candlelight vigil and march at the station starting at 4:30 p.m. Friday.

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