KENOSHA, Wis. — Protesters converged on the county courthouse, defying a Monday curfew and throwing objects at police, marking a second night of clashes after the police shooting of a Black man turned Kenosha into the nation’s latest flashpoint city in a summer of racial unrest.
Wisconsin Democratic Gov. Tony Evers activated 125 members of the National Guard to assist local law enforcement. Exit ramps off Interstate 94 from the Illinois state line into Kenosha County were closed Monday night, blocked off by police vehicles and trucks in some places.
Protesters chanted, “No justice, no peace” minutes before the 8 p.m. curfew. Some confronted members of law enforcement who wore protective gear and stood shoulder-to-shoulder in front of the courthouse entrance.
Protesters shouted at the officers, and one woman walked by blowing smoke in their faces. Others threw water bottles and other objects at police.
The latest confrontation came after protesters set cars on fire, smashed windows and clashed with officers in riot gear Sunday night over the wounding of 29-year-old Jacob Blake, who was hospitalized in serious condition. In a widely seen cellphone video made by an onlooker, Blake was shot, apparently in the back, as he leaned into his SUV while his three children sat in the vehicle.
Tensions flared anew earlier Monday after a news conference with Kenosha Mayor John Antarmian, originally to be held in a park, was moved inside the city’s public safety building. Hundreds of protesters rushed to the building and a door was snapped off its hinges before police in riot gear pepper-sprayed the crowd, which included a photographer from The Associated Press.
Police in the former auto manufacturing center of 100,000 people midway between Milwaukee and Chicago said they were responding to a call about a domestic dispute. They did not say whether Blake was armed or why police opened fire, they released no details on the domestic dispute, and they did not immediately disclose the race of the three officers at the scene.
The man who claimed to have made the video, 22-year-old Raysean White, said that he saw Blake scuffling with three officers and heard them yell, “Drop the knife! Drop the knife!” before the gunfire erupted. He said he didn’t see a knife in Blake’s hands.
The governor said that he has seen no information to suggest Blake had a knife or other weapon, but that the case is still being investigated by the state Justice Department.
