Demonstrators flood streets again in Charlotte and Atlanta to protest police shootings

Reporting from Charlotte, N.C. —  Dozens of demonstrators were out in Charlotte, N.C., for a fourth night of protests Friday after the shooting of a black man by a police officer.

Several dozen people gathered at a park and then marched through Charlotte’s business district with signs.

A separate protest was underway in Atlanta, where hundreds of protesters were in the streets.

One of the marchers in Charlotte had a sign that said “Just Stop The Killing,” while another had a banner that said “Just Release the Tapes.” Protesters have sought the release of police footage of the shooting this week of Keith Lamont Scott.

They were watched by National Guard members posted in front of many downtown buildings.

Two of the three previous nights of protests were chaotic. But on Thursday, people marched through downtown in a largely peaceful protest.

Scott’s mother asked protesters to “give up the rioting” because it had worsened the situation.

She told WCSC TV of Charleston, S.C., that he would not want the violence that followed his death. Vernita Scott Walker of James Island said a peaceful walk is fine, but the rioting and looting “makes it bad for the family.”

Walker said that she last talked to her son less than two hours before the shooting, and that she learned of his death from TV news.

Police say Scott was armed, but witnesses say he held only a book. His mother says it was the Koran, which he loved to read daily.

In Atlanta, marchers took to the streets after a rally at the National Center for Civil and Human Rights museum Friday evening. Many held signs reading “Black Lives Matter” and chanted “We’re ready, we’re ready for y’all.”

NAACP state President Francys Johnson and lawyer Mawuli Mel Davis led the protest. There were no police present, but volunteers walked ahead of demonstrators and blocked off intersections for marchers to walk.

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Charlotte, N.C., has prospered in recent years, but many black residents have been left behind