World

Black Lives Matter protests lead to more arrests as Obama announces Dallas visit

Protesters took to the streets of several U.S. cities for a second night on Saturday following the fatal police shootings of black men in Louisiana and Minnesota, and the deadly sniper attack on police officers in Dallas. Police in riot gear used smoke bombs to clear demonstrators.

Police used smoke bombs to clear demonstrators blocking a highway in St. Paul, Minnesota

Police arrest activist DeRay McKesson during a protest along a major road that passes in front of the Baton Rouge Police Department headquarters. (Max Becherer/Associated Press)

U.S. President Barack Obama will travel to Dallas, Texas, on Tuesday to deliver remarks after a sniper killed five police officers in the city, the White House said on Sunday.

"On Tuesday ... the president will travel to Dallas, Texas to deliver remarks at an interfaith memorial service at the Morton H. Meyerson Symphony Center," White House spokesman Josh Earnest said in a statement.

On Saturday, protesters took to the streets of several U.S. cities for a second night following the fatal police shootings of black men in Baton Rouge, La., and suburban St. Paul, Minn., and the deadly sniper attack in Dallas.

Here are some of the developments in the latest protests:

Activist arrested in Baton Rouge

A prominent Black Lives Matter activist, three journalists and more than 130 other people were taken into custody in Louisiana over the weekend, authorities said Sunday, in connection with protests.

Most of those arrested were from Louisiana and faced a single charge of obstructing a highway. A first wave of arrests took place on Friday and early Saturday, with 30 people taken into custody.

Police began releasing those who were arrested on Sunday afternoon. Kira Marrero, 21, of New Orleans, who faces a charge of obstructing a highway, was the first to leave the jail. She says she was not standing on the road.

"I did the right thing," said Marrero, a 2015 graduate of Williams College in Massachusetts. "I have no doubt in my mind that I did nothing wrong."

Among those arrested was DeRay Mckesson, a leading figure in the Black Lives Matter movement that blossomed in recent years in the wake of numerous deaths of unarmed black men at the hands of police. Mckesson smiled and embraced supporters upon his release from jail Sunday afternoon.

"I remain disappointed in the Baton Rouge police, who continue to provoke protesters for peacefully protesting. There's a lot of work to be done, with this police department specifically," he said.

Meanwhile, Baton Rouge police are moving in to end an unscheduled protest Sunday night.

City police spokesman Don Coppola says the confrontation began when protesters tried to walk up a freeway on-ramp.

He says they got about a block from the highway, but officers "were able to stop them before they accomplished that."

A standoff followed, then arrests began. Police walked off eight people in zip-tie handcuffs while one reporter watched.

Highway blocked in Minnesota

Police used smoke bombs to clear demonstrators blocking Interstate 94 in St. Paul.

The smoke was used just after midnight Saturday when about 200 protesters were in the roadway as police in riot gear slowly moved in.

The St. Paul Police Department tweeted that arrests were made, but didn't indicate how many, and said at least five officers suffered non-serious injuries when hit by rocks, firecrackers and bottles thrown by protesters.

Activist Jason Sole speaks at a Black Lives Matter rally in Loring Park in Minneapolis on Saturday. (Glen Stubbe/Star Tribune via AP)

A leader on a loudspeaker urged the group to march to the governor's mansion, where protesters have gathered since the fatal police shooting Wednesday night of Philando Castile. The 32-year-old black man was shot during a traffic stop in suburban St. Paul. Police said the interstate reopened early Sunday morning.

Dallas squad car hit

Police say a vehicle struck a Dallas police car parked outside the home of Patrick Zamarripa, one of five officers killed in the sniper attack. Police are investigating whether the crash was an accident or deliberate.

Authorities are trying to locate the vehicle, which was driven away after smashing into the driver's side of the squad car around 1 a.m. Sunday. Nobody was hurt. It's not known whether the two officers assigned to the vehicle were inside it. 

U.K. demonstrations

In London, Oxford Street was shut down near Oxford Circus for a Black Lives Matter march.

Protesters stopped outside the U.S. embassy before moving through Hyde Park and Regent Street.

San Francisco roads blocked

Several hundred protesters outraged by the police killings of black men in the U.S. took to the streets of San Francisco, blocking several roads and ramps to get on and off the Bay Bridge.

The California Highway Patrol closed access to the bridge at least two times Saturday afternoon when protesters took over freeway ramps, causing traffic to back up. The group began marching from the city's Hall of Justice to the downtown shopping area, causing a temporary shutdown of a popular mall as the crowd gathered there to chant slogans and make speeches.

In central California, several hundred protesters blocked several intersections as they marched against police brutality in central Fresno. Officers in riot gear blocked an on-ramp to keep the protesters from entering State Route 41.

Colorado sit-in

Black Lives Matter supporters said they plan to continue a sit-in in Denver in response to the police shootings through Tuesday for a total of 135 hours. That's an hour for each of the black people they say have been killed by police across the country this year.

The gathering, across from the City and County Building, began Thursday afternoon, several hours before police officers were killed in Dallas.

People have been dropping off food and water for those camped out on chairs and blankets in Civic Center Park.

Peaceful Florida protests

Hundreds of people marched in West Palm Beach and Fort Lauderdale as part of the Black Lives Matter movement in demonstrations that ended peacefully.

Protesters in Fort Lauderdale on Saturday chanted "No justice, no peace" and "Hands up, don't shoot." At one point the protest stopped outside a Broward County jail and prisoners banged on windows in support. A Palm Beach Post reporter tweeted a photo of a protester shaking a police officer's hand as the West Palm Beach protest disbursed.

A third protest was planned in Miami on Saturday evening.

Protesters march alongside police in NYC

Hundreds of people have marched in New York City to protest police shootings in Louisiana and Minnesota.

The protesters chanted "Black lives matter" and "No justice, no peace" as they marched through Manhattan on Saturday. As many as 1,000 people joined the protest, but many left when it started raining.

Police officers marched alongside the protesters and tried to keep them on the sidewalk. A police spokesman said there were at least 20 arrests.

'Weekend of rage'

Angry protesters in Philadelphia marched to two police precincts in the northern part of the city, facing off with police officers who kept calm as demonstrators shouted slogans and sometimes taunted them.

Hundreds of people took part in Saturday's six-hour march, which attracted a multiracial, multi-ethnic crowd upset over the fatal shooting of black men. They sought to shut down police activity and traffic in the precincts as part of what they proclaimed a "weekend of rage."

Some protesters reportedly yelled expletives at police and walked up to some of them. "Without the uniform and badge, you are just like us," one protester told a black officer.

With files from CBC News and Reuters