Four police officials shot dead in Dallas protest

Washington: Four police officials were shot dead and eight other injured on Thursday night during a protest in Dallas city over shootings by police of black men in US’ Louisiana and Minnesota states.

The shooting took place as protests were underway about two blocks from Dealey Plaza. Video showed the crowd suddenly sprinting away. Video showed numerous police officers crouching behind vehicles. Others approached a location holding protective shields. “Our thoughts and prayers are with the Dallas law enforcement community and the Dallas Area Rapid Transit (DART) officers killed and injured this evening,” Texas Governor Greg Abbott said in a statement following the shooting.

“In times like this we must remember -- and emphasize -- the importance of uniting as Americans.” The shootings occurred as Americans across the nation vented their anger over the police killings of two black men in two days. They chanted outside the governor’s residence in St. Paul, Minnesota, miles from the spot where an officer killed Philando Castile in a car on Wednesday while a 4-year-old girl sat in the back seat.
Crowds milled in the streets outside the convenience store in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, where Alton Sterling was fatally shot while police grappled with him in a parking lot Tuesday.

Protesters briefly shut down the Dan Ryan Expressway in Chicago. In New York, 1,000 people marched down Fifth Avenue and a few scuffled with police officers. The protesters chanted “Hands up, don’t shoot,” the line made famous in the Michael Brown shooting in Ferguson, Missouri in 2014.

Both killings were captured on video and posted online, helping the outrage spread across the country at lightning speed. The shooting of Castile was live-streamed by his fiance, who calmly narrated the action and showed viewers the dying man groaning and bleeding in the front seat.

IANS