After a week of violence, protests every where were heated this weekend with over 300 reported arrests, most of them in St. Paul and Baton Rouge.
Images and video from protests have painted a picture of policeman in riot gear rounding up peaceful citizens, and in many cases seemingly without cause. Activist DeRay Mckesson was released on bond Sunday in Baton Rouge, and maintains that his arrest was unlawful.
Much of the footage above shows police arresting protestors standing on private property, or thrown into the street and then arrested for their presence there. The protestors had been given permission to congregate on the private lawn by the homeowner:
The Daily Beast reports that police stated protestors were being arrested for previously attempting to block and interstate on-ramp, with Lt. Jonny Dunham of the Baton Rouge Police Department saying, “Once you’ve broken the law, there is no safe space.”
Elsewhere, arrests were not in such numbers, but seemed as arbitrary. Here’s a woman in Rochester being arrested in the middle of an interview, for no clear reason:
Image via AP.