Police arrest at least 24 in Louisville protests

LOUISVILLE, KENTUCKY－At least 24 people have been arrested in Louisville during the second night of protests over a grand jury's decision not to indict police officers on criminal charges directly related to the death of Breonna Taylor in a March police shooting.

Louisville Metro Police said on early Friday that the demonstrators were arrested before 1 am on charges which include unlawful assembly, failure to disperse and riot in the first degree.

Authorities alleged the protesters broke windows at a restaurant, damaged city buses, tried to set a fire and threw a flare into the street.

The agency also denied accusations that circulated on social media that officers were waiting for a decision from lawyers about whether they could "storm" a private church property where hundreds of protesters had gathered to avoid arrest after the city's curfew went into effect.

Earlier that night, about 100 demonstrators have gathered in Louisville around 9:05 pm. The curfew took hold at 9 pm in the Kentucky city as the protesters met up at the First Unitarian Church.

Second night's tensions

Police in riot gear could be seen blocking nearby streets. People in the crowd chanted "Black Lives Matter" as tensions continued for a second night in the US city.

Before the march began, protester Shameka Parrish-Wright told the crowd to stay together and take care of each other if they were met with force.

Some protesters blocked roads as they marched. Police, meanwhile, were seen nearby and patrol cars blocked some roads. There was no immediate signs of a confrontation.

At around 10:50 pm, several arrests have been made near the church. Among those arrested was state Rep. Attica Scott, the Louisville Democrat, who has served in the legislature since 2017.

The protesters disbanded around 11 pm after negotiating with police in riot gear, who also pulled back.

Taylor, 26, a black emergency medical technician and aspiring nurse, was killed in front of her armed boyfriend after the three officers forced their way into her home with a search warrant in a drug trafficking investigation.

The grand jury did not bring any charges for the six police bullets that struck Taylor, but instead for stray shots that hit the neighboring apartment.

Agencies Via Xinhua