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Tear gas used, 28 arrested in protests in US

Tear gas used, 28 arrested in protests in US

Tear gas being used on protesters (FILE PHOTO)

Police used tear gas on demonstrators and arrested 28 people on Saturday following protests over the lack of charges against a suburban Milwaukee police officer who fatally shot a Black teen.

About 100 people gathered outside City Hall on Friday past Wauwatosa's 7 pm curfew and refused multiple orders to disperse during a third straight night of protests.

Police said they used tear gas on the crowd, after bottles were thrown at officers.

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On Saturday, the Wauwatosa Police Department posted on Twitter that people have been asking valid questions about the police response over three nights of protests.

"Over the past three nights, we have seen an escalation in force by the protesters. Our law enforcement response is in reaction to this escalation," police tweeted.

Protesters have gathered every day since prosecutors announced Wednesday that they would not charge Officer Joseph Mensah in 17-year-old Alvin Cole's death.

Mensah, who is Black, shot Cole after a foot chase outside a Wauwatosa mall in February.

Police said two of Friday's 28 arrests were for felonies, one was for a misdemeanour and 25 were for municipal citations.

The protests in Wauwatosa are the latest in a series of demonstrations against police racism and brutality that have erupted across the country since George Floyd's death.

Floyd, who was Black, died in May after a white police officer in Minneapolis pressed his knee into his neck as Floyd gasped that he couldn't breathe.