Rittenhouse acquittal sparks protests in cities across the US

The acquittal of Kyle Rittenhouse, the teenager who fatally shot two protesters and injured another last year, sparked protests in cities across the United States this weekend.

In Chicago, civil rights advocate Rev. Jesse Jackson led a demonstration on Saturday through the city’s downtown area, including on its busy commercial State Street. Hundreds of people could be seen in one video holding signs and banners marching down the street.

Protest led by Rev Jesse Jackson growing bigger and now moving toward State Street. @cbschicago pic.twitter.com/JtKkWWhDcl

— Steven Graves (@StevenGravesTV) November 20, 2021

In New York, people protested on Friday on the Brooklyn Bridge, and the New York Police Department warned residents to avoid the area and “expect temporary closures and delays in the surrounding vicinity.”

Due to a demonstration, avoid the Manhattan-bound Brooklyn Bridge. Expect temporary closures and delays in the surrounding vicinity. pic.twitter.com/zOEl5yi8Py

— NYPD NEWS (@NYPDnews) November 20, 2021

CNN reported that the bridge was temporarily closed due to the demonstrations.

In Portland, officials on Friday deemed a demonstration a “riot.”

Multnomah Co. Sheriff’s Office said in a news release that a group of protesters arrived on Friday evening at the Justice Center yelling the phrase “burn it down.” Close to a dozen people eventually entered the building when “deputies met the trespassers on the ramp to prevent entry and began instructing them to exit.”

“The crowd, which was described as hostile, launched urine, alcoholic beverages, water bottles and batteries at deputies during the event,” the sheriff’s office said. “Because a large group of people were engaging in tumultuous and violent conduct, and further entry into the building would have posed significant implications and grave risk of causing public alarm, the Multnomah County Sheriff’s Office (MCSO) declared a riot.”

The Portland Police Bureau shared photos of a store and a police car sustaining damages. Another photo showed graffiti reading, “All cops are Kyles,” a spin on the political slogan “All cops are bastards.”

Meanwhile in downtown Oakland, over 100 people engaged in peaceful protests against the verdict on Friday evening, according to CBS San Francisco. 

The protests demonstrated a raw wave of emotions felt across the nation after Kyle Rittenhouse was acquitted on all five charges he faced, including intentional homicide, after he fatally shot Joseph Rosenbaum and Anthony Huber and injured Gaige Grosskreutz at a demonstration in Kenosha, Wis., following the police shooting of Jacob Blake, a Black man. 

Reactions to the verdict were divided along partisan lines, with conservatives cheering the decision, even offering Rittenhouse congressional internships, while Democrats rebuked it.