Atlanta police precinct damaged during protest over Jacob Blake shooting
ATLANTA - Protests in Downtown Atlanta calling for justice in a police-involved shooting in Wisconsin that left a man paralyzed turned violent on Tuesday evening. Atlanta police said an officer was injured, eight people were arrested and an Atlanta precinct was damged.
The crowd started to gather around 8 p.m. at Woodruff Park shouting for justice for Jacob Blake, a Black man shot multiple times by police in Wisconsin. The shooting of Blake on Sunday in Kenosha — apparently in the back while three of his children looked on — was captured on cellphone video and ignited new protests over racial injustice in several cities, some of which have devolved into unrest. It came just three months after the death of George Floyd at the hands of Minneapolis police touched off a wider reckoning on race.
The 29-year-old underwent surgery, the Blake family’s attorney said Tuesday, adding that the bullets severed Blake’s spinal cord and shattered his vertebrae. Another attorney said there was also severe damage to organs.
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The crowd in Atlanta was calling for the officers involved in the Wisonsin shooting to be fired and even arrested. Investigaors in Wisconsin said it was still to early to determine the shooting was justified or not.
Protesters marched about a mile down the road, some even carrying the crowd control barricades that were set up around the park.
Fireworks were set off as the crowd wound its way through the Downtown area.
"This was not a peaceful protest as fireworks were discharged, frozen water bottles and rocks were thrown at police officers," Atlanta police wrote in a statement to FOX 5.
Officers were seen taking some of the protestesr into custody, but it was not immediately known their names or what offenses they committed.
"We were able to quickly gain control of the crowds and were able to make eight arrests," police wrote.
Some in the crowd took pieces of a dismantled scaffolding and laid them across the street in an effort to build a barricade.
Members of the crowd were seen busting out at least one of the windows at the Atlanta Police Department Zone 5 Precinct and scrawling graffiti over on the buildng.
"The Zone Five Precinct sustained property damage to include broken windows and graffiti sprayed on the building," police stated.
An officer was also reportedly injured.
"One officer was injured from being sprayed with Mace," police wrote.
No word on any other injuries.
MARTA suspended Streetcar service and closed the Five Points and Dome Station ahead of the protests as well as rerouted buses to avoid the area.
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