MADISON, Wis. (AP) —
3:30 p.m.
Police in the Wisconsin capital have begun arresting protesters angry about a prosecutor’s decision not to charge a white police officer for shooting an unarmed biracial man.
Officers converged on about 20 protesters who refused to leave an intersection near the Capitol building on Wednesday. The protesters linked arms as they were detained, and some of them cried. Some onlookers shouted insults, including racial epithets, at the officers.
The 20 were among an estimated 150 to 200 demonstrators who marched peacefully through the streets earlier Wednesday and staged a mock trial for Officer Matt Kenny in the March 6 killing of Tony Robinson.
Dane County District Attorney Ismael Ozanne said Tuesday that he felt Kenny’s actions were justified and charges weren’t warranted.
11:50 a.m.
Madison Mayor Paul Soglin says any protesters who break the law should expect to be arrested.
Scores of people are marching through the city to protest a prosecutor’s decision not to charge Madison police Officer Matt Kenny for shooting and killing an unarmed biracial man in March. Dane County District Attorney Ismael Ozanne said Tuesday that he believes the shooting was justified.
Soglin says the city will provide “the greatest latitude” for anyone expressing their beliefs. But he says police won’t tolerate illegal acts such as the blocking of ambulances. He also urged protesters not to interfere with the arrests of others.
The mayor acknowledged that many community members are unhappy about Ozanne’s decision, but he said there are many who support it.
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11:30 a.m.
Hundreds of protesters are blocking a downtown Madison intersection as they rally against a prosecutor’s decision not to charge a white police officer in the death of an unarmed biracial man.
The crowd blocked the intersection for about five minutes Wednesday morning during a march to the Dane County Courthouse, where they plan to stage a street trial of the city’s police department. The demonstration’s leaders say they need to put their bodies on the line to show the public that black lives matter.
Officer Matt Kenny shot 19-year-old Tony Robinson in an apartment house on March 6. According to investigative reports, Robinson was high on mushrooms and punched Kenny in the head.
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9:39 a.m.
Scores of protesters have gathered outside of an apartment house where a white Wisconsin police officer shot and killed an unarmed biracial man in March.
Dane County District Attorney Ismael Ozanne said Tuesday that he wouldn’t charge Madison Officer Matt Kenny in 19-year-old Tony Robinson’s death because he believes the shooting was justified.
About 100 demonstrators had gathered by 9:30 a.m. and were shouting protest slogans, including “No justice, no peace, no racist police.”
They plan to march downtown and conduct a street trial of the Madison Police Department. Volunteers from community groups such as 100 Black Men and the Urban League are watching the protesters and plan to advise anyone who appears to be on the verge of committing a crime to think twice.
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9 a.m.
Protesters are gathering outside an apartment house where a white Wisconsin police officer shot and killed an unarmed biracial man in March.
The Young, Gifted and Black Coalition is asking people to leave work and school Wednesday and join them on a march from the apartment house to downtown Madison, where they plan to set up a street court to try the Madison Police Department themselves.
Dane County District Attorney Ismael Ozanne said Tuesday that he wouldn’t charge Officer Matt Kenny in Tony Robinson’s death because he believes the shooting was justified.
About a dozen people had gathered at the apartment house as of 9 a.m. with wagons loaded with coffee and water bottles.
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1 a.m.
An activist group that has led several demonstrations over the police shooting of an unarmed man in Madison is calling for a widespread walkout.
Young, Gifted and Black is calling the effort Black Out Wednesday. They say it recognizes the death in March of Tony Robinson Jr., as well as struggles such as poverty and mass incarceration that blacks face in America.
The group is staging its effort one day after a Wisconsin prosecutor declined to charge a white police officer in the death of Robinson, who was biracial. The prosecutor said the officer used lawful deadly force after he was punched in the head by Robinson and feared for his life.
Some 300 people staged a peaceful march Tuesday from the apartment building where Robinson was shot to the Capitol.
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(Photo Source: AP)
