Minneapolis shooting: Protesters call for prosecution of police

Associated Press

MINNEAPOLIS

Dozens of demonstrators huddled around bonfires Saturday evening, maintaining their presence at a Minneapolis police station where they have established an encampment after the death of a black man who was shot by police last weekend.

Minneapolis civil-rights activist Mel Reeves said the primary goal of the protests is to see the officers involved in the death of Jamar Clark prosecuted based on statements of people who say they saw the shooting.

Union organizers had a solidarity rally earlier in the day where several speakers said they supported the demonstrators’ calls for improved relations between police officers and community members and the prosecution of officers involved in Jamar Clark’s death.

Protesters, led by leaders from the NAACP and Black Lives Matter, also have called for the release of surveillance footage taken at the scene of the deadly encounter early last Sunday.

Both officers involved in the shooting, Mark Ringgenberg and Dustin Schwarze, have been placed on standard administrative leave. Authorities haven’t said who fired the fatal shot.

Gov. Mark Dayton said he met with Clark’s family and leaders of the Minneapolis chapter of Black Lives Matter on Saturday. He said U.S. Assistant Attorney General Vanita Gupta joined the meeting by telephone and reiterated her concern that releasing the video would be “extremely detrimental” to a federal criminal civil-rights probe that’s underway. Dayton said he will urge the Justice Department to release the recordings “as soon as doing so will not jeopardize” the investigation.