Protests Against Police Brutality

After Monday's shooting of the 27-year-old Black man Walter Wallace, who was shot and killed during a confrontation with Philadelphia police, protests have erupted in the city. According to Police, a large crowd, which they estimated to be approximately 1,000 people, looted businesses in Port Richmond, Philadelphia Tuesday night. Police have now asked residents to stay indoors, "requesting that all residents in the 12, 16, 18, 19, 24, 25, and 26th Districts remain indoors except when necessary."

"All this violence and looting. I don't want to leave a bad scar on my son and my family with this looting and chaos stuff. So I want my son's name and everybody to stop this. Give my son a chance. And the family like we're decent people," Wallace's father told CNN. "Everybody to have respect for our family, to pray for us. Cut it out. The looting is a mindset and it won't bring my son back. And it won't, it will escalate things to get worse instead of better."

Protests resumed in Louisville after none of the three police officers involved in the operation would be directly accused of Breonna Taylor's death in March.

In protests that followed the judicial decision, two police officers were shot in Louisville. Their injuries are not life-threatening, according to acting police chief Robert Schroeder. One suspect has been arrested.

A United States grand jury has moved forward and indicted one of the police officers, Officer Brett Hankison, involved in the death of Breonna Taylor.

Hankison has been charged with three counts of wanton endangerment in the 1st degree. The other two officers have not been charged.

Following an internal memo released on Monday, the Louisville Metro Police Department is currently under a state of emergency. All departments are operating on emergency staffing and reporting, off-days are cancelled as well as unapproved vacation requests.

The decision as been made "in anticipation" of an announcement in the Breonna Taylor case.

The United States Department of Justice has declared New York City, Portland and Seattle "anarchist jurisdictions" as all three cities "have permitted violence and destruction of property to persist and have refused to undertake reasonable measures to counteract criminal activities." This move comes after President Trump signed a memo that threatened to defund Democratic-led cities he deemed "lawless".

Designated cities face potential financial consequences and NYC Mayor Bill de Blasio's office is preparing to sue in case of funding cuts.

US Attorney General William Barr reportedly asked prosecutors of the justice department if Seattle mayor Jenny Durkan (D) could be charged for allowing BLM protests to continue in an autonomous police-free zone without police oversight, the New York Times reports, citing two sources familiar with the conversation.

Barr also wanted prosecutors to consider charging protestors with sedition, a charge usually used for people who conspire against the state.

Protests against police violence started after a video of Javier Ordóñez being chocked and tasered by two policemen. Javier was detained for violating the quarantine, was chocked and tasered at least five times and later died in custody. Family claims he was assaulted at the police station.

At least 10 people were killed during the protests, of which at least 3 were hit by bullets. Video of this killings has also been published in social media.

According to Sheriff's Department Lt. Brandon Dean a man had been pulled over by two deputies as he was riding a bicycle that had been in violation of vehicle laws. According to them, the Black man carried a handgun and was shot as he was fighting with the deputies after a chase.

Dean stated that "our suspect was holding some items of clothing in his hands, punched one of the officers in the face, and then dropped the items in his hands" and that "the deputies noticed that inside the clothing items he dropped was a black semiautomatic handgun, at which time a deputy-involved shooting occurred".

Protesters have gathered in South Los Angeles.

After the White House announced Trump would visit Kenosha on Tuesday to survey the damage caused by last week's protests following the shooting of Jacob Blake, Mayor John Antaramian (D) said: "from our perspective, our preference would have been for him not to be coming at this point in time."

"All presidents are always welcome and campaign issues are always going on. But it would have been, I think, better had he waited to have for another time to come." Antaramian added.

Antaramian further stated that the city supports peaceful protests and that the people had "every right to protest," and added that "our biggest problem really did come from people coming from outside the area and causing a great deal of damage and destruction."

In a companywide meeting on Thursday, Mark Zuckerberg addressed the recent shooting in Kenosha, Wisconsin, both in a seven-minute public address and in a heated series of questions from employees.

In the wake of the shooting, Facebook has been criticized for allowing self-proclaimed militia groups to organize on the platform, including a group called the Kenosha Guard, which had solicited armed attendees for an event on the night of the protest. Several Facebook users reported the event as likely to result in violence in the hours before the shooting, only to be told by Facebook moderators that the group and event were not violating Facebook policy.

“It was largely an operational mistake,” Zuckerberg said. “It’s because the team that enforces our policy against dangerous organizations is a specialized team that is trained to look for symbolism and innuendo ... and understand the details of how certain militias and conspiracy networks operate. The contractors and reviewers who the initial complaints were funneled to didn’t pick this up. On second review, doing it more sensitively, the team responsible for dangerous organizations recognized that this violated the policies and we took it down.”

Two people have died, and another person was seriously injured in a shooting after protests erupted into violence for a third night in Kenosha, Wisconsin.

A 17-year-old Illinois resident connected to the shooting was taken into custody Wednesday morning, according to police in Antioch, Illinois.

Jacob Blake's shooting by police in Kenosha on Sunday has ignited fresh protests against police brutality and racial injustice in a number of cities across the country

The Milwaukee Bucks boycotted Wednesday NBA playoff game five against Orlando Magic to protest the shooting of Jacob Blake. Blake was shot seven times by a police officer in Kenosha, Wisconsin, and is paralysed.

Bucks player George Hill told The Undefeated: "We're tired of the killings and the injustice."

Some NBA players didn't want to resume the season after Minneapolis police killed George Floyd. They decided to play, but with most players kneeling during the National Anthem and wearing Black Lives Matter T-shirts during pregame warmups.

According to a press release by Amnesty International, US law enforcement committed at least 125 incidents of police violence against "protestors, medics, journalists and legal observers in 40 states and D.C." during the Black Lives Matter protests in May and June.

The NGO further stated that US law enforcement "repeatedly used physical force, chemical irritants such as tear gas and pepper spray, and kinetic impact projectiles as a first resort tactic against peaceful protestors rather than as a response to any sort of actual threat or violence." Amnesty recorded 89 cases of use of tear gas, six incidents of the use of batons, 13 instances of the use of rubber bullets and 31 cases of unlawful pepper spray.

Fifteen US mayors have addressed a letter to Attorney General William Barr and Acting Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security Chad Wolf opposing the use of federal federal law enforcement with "no oversight" against protesters. The letter is calling the act of deploying federal forces against protesters an "abuse of power" and is demanding the withdrawal of "extraordinary federal law enforcement and military presence" from Portland and other American cities.

"These are tactics we expect from authoritarian regimes -- not our democracy [...] The murder of George Floyd in Minneapolis sparked a national uprising and reckoning. The majority of the protests have been peaceful and aimed at improving our communities. Where this is not the case, it still does not justify the use of federal forces. Unilaterally deploying these paramilitary-type forces into our cities is wholly inconsistent with our system of democracy and our most basic values," the letter, posted by Mayor Muriel Bowser, said.

The list of mayors who signed the letter is as follows: Jenny A. Durkan, Seattle; Ted Wheeler, Portland; Keisha Lance Bottoms, Atlanta; Lori Lightfoot, Chicago; Muriel Bowser, Washington DC; Quinton D. Lucas, Kansas City; Martin J. Walsh, Boston; Jim Kenny, Philadelphia; Michael Hancock, Denver; Eric Garcetti, Los Angeles; Sam Liccardo, San Jose; Libby Schaaf, Oakland; Regina Romera, Tucson; Darrell Steinberg, Sacramento; Kate Gallego, Phoenix.

Portland officials had previously stated that federal officers were working in coordination with local law enforcement but have since come out saying that "coordination was not made with Portland police" as the "federal police have their marching order."

According to Chad Wolf, federal law enforcement had only been deployed to Portland. On Monday, Trump vowed to send federal officers to other cities.

Before the Formula One season-opening race in Austria, multiple drivers took a knee in support of the ongoing Black Lives Matter protests against racism and police brutality.

While all drivers wore shirts stating "Black Lives Matter" or "End Racism", six drivers did not kneel and kept standing. During a virtual meeting, the drivers previously couldn't agree on a unanimous conclusion regarding taking the knee, making it an individual decision.

In his speech at Mount Rushmore president Donald Trump commented on the ongoing Black Lives Matter protests against police brutality and racism.

He stated that "This attack on our liberty, our magnificent liberty, must be stopped, and it will be stopped very quickly" adding comments against people with other political views alleging that "In our schools, our newsrooms, even our corporate boardrooms, there is a new far-left fascism that demands absolute allegiance" and claiming that "If you do not speak its language, perform its rituals, recite its mantras and follow its commandments, then you will be censored, banished, blacklisted, persecuted and punished".

He further addressed the Mount Rushmore National Memorial, stating: "This monument will never be desecrated. These heroes will never be defaced. Their legacy will never, ever be destroyed. Their achievements will never be forgotten. And Mount Rushmore will stand forever as an eternal tribute to our forefathers and to our freedom."

Players of Botafogo joined the Black Lives Matter movement and 'took a knee' during their first match after the Covid-19 pandemic paused all soccer competitions in Brazil.

Before the kick-off, Botafogo protested against the Federação de Futebol do Estado do Rio de Janeiro (FERJ), that resumed the Campeonato Carioca tournament meanwhile Brazil still deals with a growing number of Covid-19 cases.

The Athletic's Shams Charania has reported that the NBA and NBA Players Association are in talks of allowing players to replace their names on the jersey with social justice statements. After players and fans had voiced concerns that there are too many more significant things going on in the world to play basketball, the organizations are discussing how to make a statement to show the importance of these events and let players express their support.

Four men have been charged with destruction of federal property by the Justice Department. The complaint alleges that Lee Cantrell, Connor Judd, Ryan Lane and Graham Lloyd had "damaged and attempted to tear down the statue depicting Andrew Jackson located in Lafayette Square" and that "Cantrell was captured on video attempting to pry the statue off its base." According to the DOJ's statement, Judd was arrested on Friday.

One man was killed and another person was injured during a peaceful protest in Louisville, Kentucky on Saturday night. Protestors had gathered at Jefferson Square Park to demand justice for Breonna Taylor when a man fired over a dozen shots at the protestors. The park was cleared and closed by police so homicide detectives can conduct their investigation to identify the people involved with the shooting.

In a statement on Facebook, Louisville mayor Greg Fischer wrote he was "deeply saddened by the violence that erupted in Jefferson Square Park tonight, where those who have been voicing their concerns have been gathered."