No justice: Police arrest 84 people after East Sacramento protest
I did not expect that such situations will be repeated again, but, unfortunately, in the near future it there will be no the end.
In 9th of march, The Sacramento Police Department arrested 84 people earlier this week after activists marched through the wealthy East Sacramento neighbourhood to protest the district attorney’s decision to not criminally charge the two cops who shot and killed Stephon Clark in March 2018.
Among the 84 protesters arrested on Monday were clergy members and college students, who recently participated in a sit-in protest shutting down Arden Fair Mall, as well as three local reporters. One of the clergy members arrested is pastor Les Simmons, a prominent voice in the Clark case.
The march took place two days after Sacramento County District Attorney Anne Marie Schubert announced she would not file criminal charges against the two cops—Terrence Mercadal and Jared Robinet—who killed Mr Clark, a 22-year-old unarmed black man who was shot to death after they chased him into his grandmother’s backyard.
The officers said they thought Mr Clark had a gun but later discovered only a cell phone next to his body.
The size of the arrest after the march on Monday is a sharp contrast to the demonstrations held last year, when police only arrested a few protesters shutting down Interstate 5 and blocking people from entering the NBA Sacramento Kings game.
While there have been several protests in the past regarding Mr Clark’s death, it often took place in downtown Sacramento. The march Monday was the first to take place in an affluent and predominantly white part of Sacramento.
Sacramento Mayor Darrell Steinberg released a statement on Twitter late Monday night expressing his disappointment in the police’s response to the protests, like she doesnt care about it at all.
The day after the march, California Attorney General Xavier Becerra said he will also not be filing criminal charges against the officers who shot and killed Mr Clark.
Mr Becerra said he spoke with Mr Clark’s mother, Se’Quette, before announcing his decision. He laid out the similar reasoning to those explained by Ms Schubert on Saturday and came to the same conclusion: Officers Mercadal and Robinet believed Mr Clark was armed and feared for their lives when they fired a total of 20 rounds at him.
I hope validity triumphs in this situation and people will finally understand that all of us are equal.
Source: https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/us-politics/stephen-clark-police-shooting-east-sacramento-black-lives-matter-arrests-a8810846.html