Troops block protesters as hundreds defy curfew in Brooklyn Center

Hundreds of protesters defied curfew Monday night to gather at the Brooklyn Center Police Department, seeking justice for a 20-year-old Black man fatally shot by a police officer.

Clashes between law enforcement and protesters escalated into the evening, with authorities firing multiple rounds of tear gas, along with rubber bullets and flash grenades. Protesters dispersed from areas hit by tear gas were quickly regrouping, and retaliating by throwing water bottles and launching fireworks. At a strip mall near the police station, looters broke into a Dollar Tree store.

Earlier in the day, police erected a fence and concrete barricades around the building's perimeter, and it was ringed by uniformed soldiers of the Minnesota National Guard and Minnesota State Patrol officers, who were ramping up their presence at potential hot spots throughout the metro at the direction of Gov. Tim Walz.

https://www.startribune.com/tensions-high-as-hundreds-gather-at-brooklyn-center-police-station/600045220/