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Protests Against Police Brutality and Trump’s Secret Police Are Exploding Across the U.S.

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AP Photo/Marcio Jose Sanchez
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Protests in the United States against police brutality — and now also against the Department of Homeland Security’s intervention in cities — continued to explode this weekend. Police arrested well over a hundred people nationwide, and shootings at demonstrations in Austin, Louisville, and Aurora, Colorado, left several people injured and one dead.

Videos by VICE

Multiple shootings occurred over the weekend, including in Austin, where 28-year-old protester Garrett Foster was shot to death Saturday night. A video of the shooting shows several shots ringing out and protesters fleeing.

The driver told police that Foster pointed an assault rifle at them, but witnesses told the Austin American-Statesman that the driver initially tried to drive into the crowd. Foster was shot three times and later died at the hospital.

In Aurora, where protests demanding justice for Black man Elijah McClain after police put him in a fatal chokehold last year have been ongoing for weeks, demonstrators shut down both sides of a highway and a jeep drove through it. Two protesters were shot and injured, though it’s unclear who shot them. Police were searching for a “person of interest” on Sunday.

(Aurora police also claimed that protesters broke windows and attempted to set fire at a courthouse on Saturday.)

And in Louisville, where protests demanding the arrests of Louisville police officers who shot and killed Breonna Taylor have been ongoing for months, three members of a Black militia called the Not Fucking Around Coalition were injured after an accidental discharge, according to the Louisville Courier-Journal.

Here’s what happened elsewhere.

Portland

Actions in Portland, which has seen demonstrations every day for two straight months, turned violent again this weekend. Federal agents deployed tear gas and pepper balls against protesters, some of whom were holding makeshift shields.

Video taken and posted on July 26 showed a Vietnam veteran and former Army medic being pepper-sprayed by federal agents as he yells at them.

Portland police also arrested two people in connection with a shooting at a park near the protest, though it’s not clear whether the shooting was connected to the protest. Later, they allegedly found a bag with rifle magazines and “Molotov cocktails,” and posted the picture to Twitter.

Portland police said they arrested six people early Sunday morning. More federal law enforcement officials are being deployed to Portland, Oregon Public Broadcasting reported Sunday.

During the weekend’s protests, President Donald Trump took aim at the “Wall of Moms,” a phenomenon that first began in Portland to protect other protesters and has since spread around the country. Trump called the protesters “anarchists” and the moms a “scam.”

Seattle

In Seattle, where the Trump administration sent a team of federal agents on Thursday after informing local authorities earlier that they wouldn’t do so, at least 47 protesters were arrested for crimes such as allegedly assaulting officers and failure to disperse, according to CNN.

Videos taken at the scene show Seattle police attacking and macing protesters.

Another video showed a nurse in scrubs being pepper-sprayed while she tried to pull another protester from the police.

Despite the unrest on Saturday, Sunday’s protests were mostly peaceful, according to local reports.

Omaha, Nebraska

Omaha saw perhaps the most arrests this weekend, as police said 75 people were taken into custody after protesters allegedly blocked a roadway. In a video taken at the scene, protesters can be heard shouting that police are brutalizing the people they’re arresting.

Richmond, Virginia

In Richmond, which local police essentially turned into a war zone a month ago, hundreds marched on Saturday night.

On Sunday night, police confronted protesters at the city’s Monroe Park in what one local reporter called an “ambush,” tackling and handcuffing protesters. It’s so far unknown how many people were arrested or what they were charged with.

Cover: A demonstrator is charged by federal officers during a Black Lives Matter protest at the Mark O. Hatfield United States Courthouse Monday, July 27, 2020, in Portland, Ore. (AP Photo/Marcio Jose Sanchez)

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