Philadelphia rocked by second night of unrest after fatal police shooting of Black man

Photo credit: france24

Hundreds of people demonstrated in Philadelphia late Tuesday with looting and violence breaking out in a second night of unrest after the latest police shooting of a Black man in the US. The victim’s family said they called an ambulance, not the police, for a mental health crisis, according to their lawyer

The Philadelphia police department warned on Twitter that “a large crowd” of around 1,000 people was looting businesses in the area of Castor Avenue and Aramingo Avenue, advising citizens to “avoid the area”.

Footage from a news helicopter appeared to show people breaking into and looting a Foot Locker sneaker store and another business. At another location in West Philadelphia, where an estimated crowd of 1,000 people had gathered, an AFP reporter saw police armed with batons clashing violently with several dozen protesters.

Pennsylvania Governor Tom Wolf’s office announced the deployment of several hundred National Guard troops to the city “to protect the right to peacefully assemble and protest while keeping people safe”.

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