Police chief resigns after man shot dead

WASHINGTON－The police chief in the US city of Atlanta resigned after an officer fatally shot a black man during an arrest, the mayor said on Saturday, with the new killing injecting fresh anger into protests against racism and police brutality.

Demonstrators set alight the Wendy's restaurant where Rayshard Brooks, 27, was killed late on Saturday, local media reported.

The restaurant was in flames for more than 45 minutes before fire crews arrived to extinguish the blaze, protected by a line of police officers, local television showed. By that time the building had been reduced to charred rubble next to a gas station.

Other demonstrators marched onto an interstate highway, stopping traffic, before police used a line of squad cars to hold them back.

This came hours after Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms announced the resignation of Chief Erika Shields.

"Chief Shields has offered to immediately step aside as police chief so that the city may move forward with urgency in rebuilding the trust so desperately needed throughout our communities," Bottoms said.

The police department has fired the officer who allegedly shot and killed Brooks, police spokesman Carlos Campos said late on Saturday. Another officer involved in the death was put on administrative leave. Both officers are white.

Brooks had been asleep in his car at the Wendy's drive-through late on Friday, and employees called police to complain he was blocking customers, an official report said.

Sobriety test

He failed a sobriety test and resisted when police tried to arrest him, the Georgia Bureau of Investigation said.

Surveillance video showed "that during a physical struggle with officers, Brooks obtained one of the officer's Tasers and began to flee from the scene", the report said.

"Officers pursued Brooks on foot, and during the chase Brooks turned and pointed the Taser at the officer. The officer fired his weapon, striking Brooks."

Brooks was taken to a hospital but died after surgery, it said, adding that one officer was injured.

Brooks was the father of a young daughter who was celebrating her birthday on Saturday, his lawyers said.

For almost three weeks there has been mass civil unrest across the US, ignited by the killing of an African-American man, George Floyd, while in police custody on May 25.

Floyd died after a white Minneapolis police officer knelt on his neck for nearly nine minutes.

Protests that spread first around the country then the globe have forced a conversation on the legacies of slavery, colonialism and white violence against people of color, as well as the militarization of police in the US.

Shields had worked for Atlanta's police department for more than 20 years.

"Her resignation was the result of "her desire that Atlanta be a model of what meaningful reform should look like across this country", Bottoms said.

Agencies - Xinhua