USA: Anti-police brutality protests possible

Event

The recent killing of an African-American man by police in California has rekindled the Black Lives Matter movement, leading to a wave of protests. The incident, in which an unarmed man was killed by police while in his grandmother’s backyard in Sacramento, occurred on March 18. So far protests have been concentrated in Sacramento but could potentially spread to other areas of the country in the coming days.

Context

A number of events involving allegations of police brutality against African-Americans have sparked unrest in recent years, starting with the August 2014 killing of an African-American man in Ferguson. Since then, other police shootings (or acquittals of police officers involved in such shootings) have regularly resulted in demonstrations of various sizes, some ending in clashes.

Advice

Individuals are advised to keep abreast of the situation and avoid any demonstrations as a precaution.