US city of Charlotte announces curfew amid violent protests

The mayor of Charlotte, North Carolina, has imposed a curfew in the wake of the police killing of an African American man whose family says he was unarmed when shot.

Mayor Jennifer Roberts imposed a curfew effective midnight Thursday (0400 GMT Friday) as protesters and police in Charlotte confronted each other for a third evening on Thursday night to denounce the police shooting of Keith Lamont Scott.

Police officers armed with rifles fired rubber bullets and tear gas canisters at several hundred protesters blocking a highway.

Scott was killed by police on Tuesday.  The 43-year-old’s death outraged Black Lives Matters activists, leading to protests and clashes there.

Demonstrators also marched to the city police station carrying signs saying “Stop killing us” and “Resistance is beautiful.”  Many were shouting, “No Justice, No Peace.”

North Carolina has recently passed a law that bans the public release of police video from body or dashboard cameras with limited exceptions.

The shooting death of Scott happened at a time when anti-police sentiment is already high across the US due to a surge of unjustified killings of unarmed African Americans over the past few months.