CLEVELAND, (Reuters) – Some 71 people were arrested in Cleveland overnight during protests that flared after a police officer was found not guilty in the shooting deaths of an unarmed black man and a woman following a high-speed car chase in 2012, police said yesterday.
Protests were mostly peaceful after the judge’s verdict was announced on Saturday, Police Chief Calvin Williams said.
But later in the day, some people “crossed the line,” assaulting bystanders in a downtown area, briefly blocking a major highway and disrupting business at a shopping center, he told a news conference.
The unrest comes amid a national outcry over the law enforcement’s use of lethal force against minority groups. Over the past year, the deaths of unarmed black men during confrontations with police in Ferguson, Missouri, New York City, Baltimore and elsewhere have spawned protests and occasional violent outbursts around the United States.