EDITOR’S UPDATE: Hennepin County Attorney Mike Freeman announced Wednesday that he would not be charging Minneapolis Police Officers Mark Ringgenberg and Dustin Schwarze in the shooting death of Jamar Clark. Find more details here: http://ow.ly/105S8Z
The Twin Cities Coalition 4 Justice 4 Jamar held a rally at the Hennepin County Government Center on Saturday, March 26 to demand that Hennepin County Attorney Mike Freeman charge police officers Mark Ringgenberg and Dustin Schwarze for the murder of Jamar Clark. Around 350 protesters showed up, and approximately a dozen speakers spoke on the issues surrounding Clark’s death.
Speakers included Clark’s family members, other victims of police brutality, community leaders, a group of middle school and elementary students, and members of the faith community. The rally began at noon and lasted until just after 1 pm. It was followed by a march to the North Loop.
March organizers’ intention was to bring attention to the issues of police brutality where Governor Mark Dayton’s family owns businesses. One of the protesters said, “We’re going to march where families are spending $100 to $150 on lunch.”
Last week Freeman said that a grand jury would not be used in the Jamar Clark case, which was called “a step in the right direction” by members of The Twin Cities Coalition 4 Justice 4 Jamar. Freeman himself will decide whether or not the officers involved will be charged.
Around 3:20 pm the march came to an end with organizers proclaiming that this isn’t the last of protests and rallies regarding Clark’s death if Freeman doesn’t charge the officers involved in the shooting. That decision is expected later this week.
Chris Juhn welcomes readers’ responses to chrisjuhnphotography@yahoo.com.
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Will Mpls go up in flames ? I hope not but peeps is angry and marginalized by the shortcut to justice. Bring in the USDOJ and get to the bottom of this. President Obama owes it to the Clark family to have his AG make this priority #1.