BATON ROUGE, La. – A prominent Black Lives Matter activist, three journalists and more than 120 other people have been taken into custody in Louisiana over the past two days, authorities said Sunday, after protests over the fatal shooting of a Alton Sterling by two white police officers in Baton Rouge.
Spokeswoman Casey Rayborn Hicks of the East Baton Rouge Sheriff’s Office told The Associated Press that nearly 100 people were taken to the parish jail in connection with protests that began late Saturday. The vast majority of them were from Louisiana and faced a single charge of obstructing a highway.
A first wave of arrests took place on Friday and early Saturday, with 30 people taken into custody.
Tensions between black citizens and police have risen palpably over the past week or so amid police shootings of African-American men in Minnesota and Louisiana and the gunning down of five white police officers by a black suspect in Dallas in apparent retaliation.
Among those arrested was DeRay Mckesson, a leading figure in the Black Lives Matter movement that blossomed in the wake of the 2014 police killing of Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri.
Authorities had just arrested a couple on a motorcycle driving by on the street when attention turned toward Mckesson, who was wearing bright red shoes. An officer could be heard pointing to a man with “loud shoes,” and saying he would arrest him if he could reach him.
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Booking documents provided by the East Baton Rouge Sheriff’s Office say Mckesson was arrested on a charge of obstructing a highway.
An affidavit of probable cause filed by police says Mckesson “intentionally” placed himself in the road after protesters were repeatedly warned via police loud speaker to remain on private property or the curb.
“During the protest, the defendant entered the roadway and was provided another verbal order to exit the lanes of travel. Moments later, the defendant entered the roadway again and was taken into custody by officers on scene without incident,” the affidavit said.
Video posted on Periscope shows footage taken by McKesson in the moments leading up to his arrest. The video shows Mckesson walking alongside Airline Highway on his way back to the main area where the protests were going on when he was arrested.
On the video, Mckesson can be heard talking with fellow protesters and describing what he said was provocative police behavior against protesters.
DeRay Mckesson was among those arrested Saturday night, according to an Associated Press reporter who was at the scene. It was not immediately clear what prompted Mckesson’s arrest. Video posted on Periscope shows footage taken by McKesson in the moments leading up to his arrest. The video shows Mckesson walking alongside Airline Highway on his way back to the main area where the protests were going on when he was arrested.
On the video, Mckesson can be heard talking with fellow protesters and describing what he said was provocative police behaviour against protesters.
“The police in Baton Rouge have been truly awful tonight,” Mckesson said on the video. “They have provoked people, they chase people just for kicks. The police have been violent tonight. The protesters have not.”
Moments later, someone shouts, “This is the police, you’re under arrest! Don’t fight me! Don’t fight me!”
McKesson responds: “I’m under arrest, y’all!” before the camera is knocked to the ground.
Photo images captured by The Associated Press show police apprehending Mckesson, who at one point was on his knees before being pulled to his feet by police and led away with his hands secured behind his back.
Mckesson is one of the most recognizable faces to emerge from the Black Lives Matter movement. The former educator built a national following after he left his then-home and job in Minneapolis in August 2014 for Ferguson, Missouri, to document the rising anger over race relations after the police shooting of Michael Brown.
The local public radio station, WWNO, said on Twitter that one of their reporters was also arrested, and that they had little information on why.
Jade Flint was one of the protesters out on the street late Saturday.
“I feel if I’m not out here ‘Who is?’ This is stuff that I talk about daily with my friends and on Twitter. I can’t say that I feel a certain way about a cause and not have my body out here representing for the community,” said Flint. She said she would like to see the two officers involved in Sterling’s death arrested.
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“The police in Baton Rouge have been truly awful tonight,” Mckesson said on the video. “They have provoked people, they chase people just for kicks. The police have been violent tonight. The protesters have not.”
Moments later, someone shouts, “This is the police, you’re under arrest! Don’t fight me! Don’t fight me!”
McKesson responds: “I’m under arrest, y’all!” before the camera is knocked to the ground.
Activist Brittany Packett, who was with Mckesson, said in an email that he was on the highway shoulder when “multiple police crossed onto the shoulder, tackling Deray and arresting him.”
Photo images taken by The Associated Press show police apprehending Mckesson, who at one point was on his knees before being pulled to his feet by police and led away with his hands secured behind his back.
Darren Bowers, 26, of Baton Rouge, arrived at the jail around 9 a.m. Sunday to see if he could get his girlfriend, 26-year-old Ariel Bates, released. Bowers wasn’t present when Bates was arrested near police headquarters. Bowers said she called him from the jail early Sunday.
“She told me that they jumped all on her and her cousin on the grass. They weren’t on the street or anything,” Bowers said.
He said he believes police are “antagonizing” protesters.
“People are peacefully protesting. Why are (police) in riot gear?” he said.
The tumult over police killings reached well beyond Louisiana. In Minnesota, police arrested about 100 people in the capital of St. Paul during protests. Authorities said 21 St. Paul officers and six state troopers were hurt late Saturday and early Sunday during clashes stemming from the police shooting and killing of Philando Castile, a 32-year-old black man, during a traffic stop in suburban St. Paul on Wednesday.
WATCH: How many black people have been killed by police in the U.S.? Depends who’s counting
The starting point of Saturday’s demonstration was the convenience store where 37-year-old Alton Sterling was shot and killed last week. Protesters then fanned out to the Baton Rouge police department and the state Capitol.
The Department of Justice has opened an investigation into Sterling’s death, which has angered many in the black community.
Shouting “No justice! No peace!” roughly 1,000 protesters gathered outside the police department, waving homemade signs as passing cars honked their support. Some drivers stopped by with bottles of water.
The protests lasted well into the evening but died down a little after midnight.
Police in riot gear came out numerous times as the demonstration wore on into the evening, facing off against the crowd that yelled slogans and waved signs.
At one point early in the protest, a police officer on a microphone told the crowd that as long as they stayed on the grass and not on the road they could remain, and then police eventually pulled back and traffic reopened.
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But officers came out again after the demonstration moved to a different area of the street. At one point numerous police cars, with their blue lights flashing, sped off down the street where a smaller group of protesters had walked.
A police spokesman said two firearms were confiscated and several arrests made. Authorities said they pulled in officers from nearby parishes to buttress their numbers.
WAFB-TV reporter Chris Slaughter was among those arrested, Hicks confirmed. Eve Troeoh, news director for New Orleans public radio station WWNO, said staff reporter Ryan Kailath was arrested.
Breitbart News reported that Lee Stranahan, one of its reporters, was arrested.
Members of the New Black Panther Party for Self Defense called for the arrest and indictment of the officers involved in Sterling’s shooting, shouting “Black Power” and raising their fists.
“These are human rights violations,” Krystal Muhammad shouted to the crowd at the convenience store before heading over to the police department. “They are not operating as human beings. They are being predators on our communities across America.”
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