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More protests held over killing of black man in California

Salena Manni (L), fiancee of Stephon Clark, holds their son Cairo and an unidentified man holds son Aiden (2nd R) while Basim Elkarra speaks and Rev Shane Harris listens at a rally in Sacramento, California, US, March 31, 2018. (Photo by Reuters)

Mass protests against the police killing of an unarmed African-American man have continued in the capital of California, with at least one protester being injured by police.

Nearly 200 people demonstrated in Sacramento on Saturday in the latest of nearly two weeks of mostly peaceful rallies since Stephon Clark was gunned down in his grandmother’s yard on March 18.

The demonstrators were holding signs such as “Stop Police Rage” and “Power to the People.”

The protests were led by retired National Basketball Association player Matt Barnes, who grew up in the area.

“We’re here today to raise awareness, to come together peacefully and to have some accountability for the officers, not only in Sacramento but across the country, who have been doing this,” Barnes told the Sacramento Bee newspaper.

Matt Barnes, former player with the Sacramento Kings NBA team, speaks at a rally to protest the police shooting of Stephon Clark, in Sacramento, California, US, March 31, 2018. (Photo by Reuters)

Another 150 people held a vigil Saturday night when a protester was apparently struck by a Sacramento Sheriff’s vehicle, according to a video posted on the Internet and the newspaper.

The video shows the protester falling to the ground after being hit, the newspaper reported, quoting some witnesses as saying the sheriff’s vehicle then left the scene.

The protestor was then taken to a hospital by the fire department, but so far, no officials have commented on the incident.

Saturday’s protests came after hundreds of people held similar demonstrations on Friday night in Sacramento, squaring off with police in riot gear.

Demonstrators attend a rally to protest the police shooting of Stephon Clark, in Sacramento, California, US, March 31, 2018. (Photo by Reuters)

Earlier on Friday, the results of an autopsy on the man were released which refuted statement by police that Clark, 22, had been moving toward officers when they fired.

It also showed that all eight bullets hit the man in the back, side or leg and that none of the bullets fired by the officers entered Clark’s body from the front.

According to Bennet Omalu, the forensic pathologist who conducted the autopsy, any one of seven bullets that entered the upper half of Clark’s body could have led to his death. An eighth bullet hit him in the leg.

A police statement released after the incident, however, claimed that the officers involved “saw the suspect facing them, advance forward with his arms extended, and holding an object in his hands.”

The shooting incident follows a string of controversial cases involving fatal police shootings of black Americans.


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