Biden plays golf as BLM protests RAGE around US over Daunte Wright and Adam Toledo’s police custody deaths
JOE Biden played golf while riots exploded all over the US after the police custody shootings of Adam Toledo and Daunte Wright.
The president was snapped enjoying the course in Wilmington, Delaware, on Saturday as tensions escalated around the country and in some areas, turned violent.
The outing with with Ron Olivere, the father-in-law of his late son Beau, comes at a time that the nation is seeing widespread civil unrest.
“The course record is still intact,” Biden told reporters as he finished his first round of golf since becoming president Politico reported.
The publication noted that his predecessor, Donald Trump, teed off a whopping 300 times during his time in the Oval Office, according to the website TrumpGolfCount.
While Biden practiced his putting skills, demonstrations exploded and clashes broke out in Chicago, NYC, and Minnesota where protesters decried police shootings in the US.
Thousands of people gathered peacefully across America to demonstrate against police yesterday – but as the night went on, tensions grew and protests continued into Saturday.
Dozens of people were arrested and several injured following clashes between BLM protesters and cops on Friday night.
Demonstrators gathered in Logan Square Park, Chicago, to demand justice for Toledo, a 13-year-old who was shot dead by cops on March 29 as he ran from police.
Many said they were protesting to demand police reform and Mayor Lori Lightfoot’s resignation, claiming the current system does not work.
As the event came to an end at around 10pm, a small group of protesters began clashing with police officers.
Elsewhere, protests exploded across Chicago after bodycam footage of Toledo’s death was released on Thursday.
Toledo was fatally shot in an alley after running from police around 2.30am on March 29.
Video clearly shows the teen putting his hands up before he was shot and a firearm was found behind a nearby fence, per body cam footage.
The arrest reports published by Civilian Office of Police Accountability (COPA) indicated that the teen posed an “imminent threat of battery with a weapon” as pressure mounted for the footage to be shown.
The police report said Officer Eric Stillman shot Adam for allegedly not following directions, running, using significant force likely to “cause death or great bodily harm,” and being armed with a semi-automatic pistol.
Meanwhile, clashes also broke out at Brooklyn Center in Minneapolis where Daunte Wright, 20, was shot dead last Sunday – miles from where Derek Chauvin‘s trial is underway for his police custody killing of George Floyd.
Almost 1,000 people gathered in front of the police headquarters in the city by 9pm yesterday, the Star Tribune reports.
The protest was peaceful at the beginning, but became tense during the evening with a speaker leaving a message for police officers, saying: “We’re going to make their lives miserable every night.”
Demonstrators demanded charges for ex-Minnesota cop Kimberly Potter who shot Wright last week.
Police began deploying flash bangs to scatter the crowd, some of whom shielded themselves with umbrellas, according to reports.
Pepper spray was also used against some protesters after the protest was declared an unlawful assembly.
Around 100 people were arrested yesterday night following the clashes, KSTP reported.
Protesters also gathered in the Big Apple, with some people holding signs with the names of victims of the fatal shootings.
Black Lives Matter protesters clashed with police in Brooklyn near the Barclays Center and some people were reportedly arrested.
Protests also continued in other cities including Atlanta and Washington DC.
According to the Washington Post, around 175 people rallied at the Black Lives Matter Plaza.
At one point, protesters threw fireworks at police officers, with one even throwing a scooter.
In Portland, a fire was set outside an Apple store that also damaged other businesses on Friday night.
The police there declared the demonstration as a “riot” in which a group of protesters set fires and smashed windows of businesses, a church, and the Oregon Historical Society, according to The Oregonian.
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Several hundred people marched through the area and began vandalizing and looting businesses, the police said on Saturday.
Authorities on Saturday asked business owners to review security footage to help the Portland police identify and catch the group of rioters that caused the destruction.
Minneapolis and other US cities are reportedly increasing security in preparation for potential civil unrest ahead of the jury deliberations in Chauvin’s trial over Floyd’s death set for next week.
