KENOSHA, Wis. (WFLA/CNN/AP) — After witnessing anger spill into the streets of his hometown, the uncle of the 29-year-old Black Wisconsin man shot by police Sunday is urging protesters to demonstrate peacefully.
People all over the country are taking to the streets to protest police brutality. The civil unrest was heightened after the police shooting of Jacob Blake. Several businesses and cars were set on fire Monday night in Kenosha, Wisconsin after demonstrators defied the 8 p.m. curfew.
Blake’s family says they support the protests, but not the destruction.
“This is like all the Black parents talk about is that phone call you don’t want to get, and we got it,” Jacob Blake’s uncle Justin said. “So you have to, sort of, be strong for each other, let your faith lead the way and so, after talking to his mother, she and my brother are asking people in Kenosha and around this nation to protest but protest non-violently.”
Police first fired tear gas Monday about 30 minutes after the 8 p.m. curfew took effect to disperse protesters who chanted, “No justice, no peace” as they confronted a line of officers who wore protective gear and stood shoulder-to-shoulder in front of the courthouse entrance. But hundreds of people stuck around, screaming at police and lighting fires, including to a garbage truck near the courthouse.
“We want justice and we’re going to get justice,” Justin Blake said. “We’re going to demand justice but we’re going to do that without tearing up our own communities.”
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