After nearly of week of protests, Baton Rouge police are taking criticism for their methods of dealing with demonstrators. The Associated Press reports that nearly 200 were arrested over the weekend, and the district attorney said Monday that any decisions on charges against the protesters will be made on a case-by-case basis.
Protests have spread across the country as people express outrage over the recent deaths of two black men at the hands of police in Baton Rouge and in Minnesota.
“We’re going to do as good job as we can, as quickly as we can, to try to go through the (police) reports as they come in,” East Baton Rouge District Attorney Hillar Moore III says.
Moore suggests that “first offenders” and people who may have just “stepped over a line” could have their cases resolved more quickly than those of protesters accused of carrying guns or injuring officers.
But with tensions rising since last week’s killings of Alton Sterling in Baton Rouge and Philando Castile in Minnesota by white officers—and an attack on police by a black sniper in Dallas that killed five officers—many have questioned whether the police response has been appropriate.
The American Civil Liberties Union of Louisiana says that Baton Rouge police “used violent, militarized tactics on groups of people who have gathered peacefully in protest of Alton Sterling’s killing.” On Sunday, Amnesty International questioned the high number of arrests during Saturday’s protests and whether it was a “proportionate response to peaceful protests.”
A Baton Rouge police spokesman says the arrests have stemmed largely from people not complying with officers’ commands.
During a confrontation Sunday evening near an interstate ramp, a police officer in an armored vehicle had warned protesters over a loudspeaker that they would be arrested if they didn’t leave the area. Within minutes, officers in riot gear began making dozens of arrests.
“They had several opportunities to get out of the road, to disperse. They were ignored,” says Baton Rouge Police Sgt. Don Coppola.
As to why some officers are armed with high-powered rifles at protests, Coppola says, “You don’t really know what you’re walking into. You want to have every precautionary means that you may need … to disperse these crowds.” Coppola says the department respects people’s right to protest peacefully, and that people from outside Baton Rouge are largely responsible for confrontations at protests.
Police have confiscated three rifles, three shotguns and two pistols during protests, according to Coppola. One officer was hit by a projectile and injured in the weekend protests, authorities said.
The Associated Press has the full story.
