Curfew was imposed on Charlotte, North Carolina on Thursday night after protesters took to streets for the third day. The violent uprising in the city has resulted in one casualty and injuries to several others including policemen.
An emergency was also declared in the US city on Wednesday after nights of unrest following yet another fatal police shooting of a black man in the country.
The Charlotte police on Tuesday shot dead Keith Lamont Scott, a 43-year-old black man, who was waiting for his son to come from school. Scott was shot in an apartment complex lot after an encounter with police officers who were looking for a wanted suspect. Police reports state that Scott was armed when he was asked to get out of his vehicle. His friends and relatives, however, say that he was just holding a book.
A civilian was shot on Wednesday during the protests as riot police used tear gas, rubber bullets and flash grenades to disperse the protesters. The civilian, Justin Carr, 26 succumbed to the gunshot on Thursday. However, the circumstances of his shooting are still not clear.
According to police reports, nine protesters were injured and at least 44 were arrested on the days of the protests. Even though a curfew has been imposed in the city, protesters were seen peacefully rallying on the streets of Charlotte on Friday to protest against the fatal police shootings in the US.
The US President, Barack Obama, on Thursday urged the protesters to maintain the peace in the region. However, he also addressed the concerns of racial inequality in the country.
"(The) overwhelming majority of people who have been concerned about police-community relations (are) doing it the right way. Every once in a while you see folks doing it the wrong way," Obama told ABC News.
"I think it's important to separate out the pervasive sense of frustration among a lot of African-Americans about shootings of people and the sense that justice is not always color blind," the President said on the "Good Morning America" .
The family of Keith Scott was shown the video of the incident on Thursday. The family urged authorities to release the video to the public.
The protesters have stepped up pressure on authorities to release the video as hundreds gathered to protest on the streets for the third night, where many of them chanted "Release the video."
The video shows Scott calmly obeying police orders and walking slowly backwards raising up his arms, the family's lawyer said. However, the video is blurred and it is not clear whether Scott was holding a gun or any other object in his hand.
