June 13 Black Lives Matter protests

Our live coverage of the anti-racist protests has moved here.

A second Atlanta police officer involved in the Rayshard Brooks case has been placed on administrative duty, Atlanta Police spokesman Carlos Campos tells CNN. 

Campos also said that the Atlanta police officer who shot and killed Brooks on Friday has been terminated.

CORRECTION: This post has been updated to reflect that the officer was placed on administrative duty, not administrative leave.

The Atlanta Police Officer who shot and killed Rayshard Brooks has been terminated, Atlanta Police spokesman Carlos Campos tells CNN. 

A small group of protesters tonight marched from the Lafayette Square area, near the White House, through downtown Washington D.C. and then onto a highway that runs from the city to Northern Virginia.

The demonstrators could be seen on video from CNN affiliate WJLA marching out of DC, using both the incoming and outgoing lanes of highway Interstate 395.

The group was peaceful and music blared as they marched. At one point, protesters and medics kneeled on the highway. 

Police cars were seen following the protesters from a distance, but demonstrators were allowed to continue on their way. 

A separate group of protesters did a similar thing on the same highway, slightly further north. 

There were a few protests in DC throughout Saturday, but they did not draw major crowds.

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The Atlanta Fire Department is standing by, waiting to safely access the fire burning at the Wendy’s restaurant where a black man was shot dead on Friday night.

“#Atlanta Fire units are standing by until they can safely get to the fire burning at Wendy’s (125 University Ave). Restaurant is fully involved and adjacent to a gas station. No reports of anyone inside the location,” the Atlanta Fire Department tweeted.   

A group of protesters has gathered outside the Atlanta Police 3rd Precinct near Grant Park, according to the Atlanta Journal Constitution. 

A rally in support of the Black Lives Matter movement took place in Taiwan on Saturday, local time.

The organizers also used the march to bring attention to discrimination happening within Taiwan against indigenous groups.

A woman wipes her tears while attending a Black Lives Matter rally in Taipei, Taiwan, on June 13.

Firefighters are not going into the Wendy’s restaurant which is on fire, Sgt. Cortez Stafford, Atlanta Fire Rescue’s Public Information Officer has said.

Rayshard Brooks was shot by police on Friday near the Wendy’s.

Stafford said the fire is in the dinning room and spreading through the drive-thru window.

Protesters are still in the streets and around the Wendy’s, making it hard to access the fire. Crews are monitoring the situation to make sure no other structures are impacted, Stafford says. 

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Atlanta Police Chief Erika Shields.

Atlanta Police Chief Erika Shields has released a statement explaining why she stepped down from her role after a black man was shot dead by an officer.

In a statement released Saturday, Shields said:

Earlier, Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms said Shields had offered to step aside. Bottoms said this was Shields’ decision, and that she will remain with the city in an undetermined role. 

Georgia Governor Brian Kemp issued a statement earlier this evening via Twitter regarding the shooting death of Rayshard Brooks.

The Governor tweeted that an investigation had been launched into the conduct of the police officers whose actions led to the death of the 27-year-old.

The Wendy’s where Rayshard Brooks was shot by police Friday is on fire. 

Flames and black smoke can be seen coming from the windows of the restaurant. in Atlanta.

Several small fires are also visible around the edge of the parking lot. 

Protesters have marched onto the Interstate 85 and Interstate 75 connector in Atlanta and dozens of police vehicles have lined the highway.

The interstate has been shut down.

Not far away, a fire has been started outside the Wendy’s where Rayshard Brooks was shot dead by police on Friday night.

The situation is ongoing. 

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Volunteers painted "Black Lives Matter" in front of the Vermont statehouse Saturday.

Volunteers in Vermont’s capital city painted a Black Lives Matter mural on State street in front of the statehouse.

Vermont’s capital – Montpelier – joins a number of cities which have similar murals, including Washington, D.C, where Mayor Muriel Bowser commissioned a mural on the street leading to the White House.

Dozens of people volunteered to help, and each took turns to paint.

Montpelier city council unanimously approved the mural earlier in the week. It was funded by local activists and community members who gave all of the materials to make it happen.

In New Orleans, protesters tore down a statue of John McDonogh – a merchant and slave owner who died in 1850.

After damaging the statue, protesters loaded it onto a trucks and took it to the banks of the Mississippi River where it was thrown into the water, according to the New Orleans Police Department.

McDonogh gifted $2 million in his will to the cities of Baltimore and New Orleans to build public schools. Over 30 schools were built in New Orleans with his name and a number after it, according to the New Orleans historical society.

Many of the schools in New Orleans bearing his name were changed in the 80s and 90s due to the controversies over McDonogh’s slave owning history, according to the Historical Society.

Only one school with his name remains open in New Orleans, McDonogh 35, while neighboring Jefferson Parish still has an elementary school named after him, McDonogh 26.

Here’s what the scene looked like at Duncan Plaza on Saturday:

A protest Saturday in New Orleans

Atlanta Police have used tear gas on a crowd protesting outside the Wendy’s restaurant where Rayshard Brooks was shot dead by police Friday.

A flash bang was heard in the area on Saturday evening, as police worked to clear the crowd.

Not long after, a group of the protesters moved onto the Interstate 85 highway and it is now shut down.

The situation is ongoing.

The attorney for the family of a black man who was shot dead by a police officer has called out a failing in police training.

Rayshard Brooks, 27, was shot in the parking lot of a Wendy’s in southeast Atlanta Friday night, after he scuffled with officers and allegedly ran away with one of their stun guns, according to the Georgia Bureau of Investigation.

Less than 24 hours later, Atlanta Police Chief Erika Shields stepped down from her job.

“‘They’re going to say it’s (a taser) a deadly weapon. And it’s not,” Justin Miller, an attorney representing Brooks’ family, said a press conference Saturday.

L. Chris Stewart, who is also representing the family, called out the discrepancy between the responses to the coronavirus and racism, highlighting the huge global effort to find a vaccine for Covid-19, while “nobody” tries to “find a vaccine” for civil rights abuses.

“I guess that’s because it doesn’t hit close to home for the people that care.”

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Marquavian Odom, a protester in Atlanta, spoke with CNN’s Natasha Chen Saturday about police fatally shooting Rayshard Brooks.

Odom said Brooks’ case is different from George Floyd’s because Brooks was fighting back. In surveillance video of the shooting, Brooks appeared to point the stun gun at the Atlanta officer.

“He was scared for his life. The first thing to do when people are fighting you, you will try to fight back, even though it is authority. He did try to run away from the situation, they were still tasing him, they were still trying to cause him harm and tried to kill him so the first natural thing would be to run.” 

Odom said officers are trained in de-escalation, so they should’ve known “plenty of ways” to de-escalate the situation with Brooks.

Odom called the resignation of Atlanta’s police chief a “beautiful thing.”

Houston Texans defensive end JJ Watt and Cleveland Browns quarterback Baker Mayfield defended kneeling during the National Anthem Saturday. Watt and Mayfield are both white.

Watt quote-tweeted a now-deleted tweet from someone who said “Pretty sure you won’t see @JJWatt taking a knee …”

Watt responded:

Mayfield responded to an Instagram user who said “Please tell Browns fans you’re not going to be kneeling this season” by saying “I absolutely am.”

After receiving backlash on social media, Mayfield posted a lengthier statement on his Instagram story. 

During a protest at Duncan Plaza on Saturday, protesters in New Orleans took down a statue of John McDonogh, a merchant and slave owner, and rolled it into the Mississippi River.

Mayor LaToya Cantrell released a statement through her social media channels saying, “The City of New Orleans rejects vandalism and destruction of City property. It is unlawful.”

After protesters damaged the statue, they drug it into the street and loaded it onto one of two trucks, according to a statement released by the New Orleans Police Department. The trucks took the statue to the banks of the Mississippi River and the statue was then thrown into the river, according to police.

NOPD said police have apprehended the drivers of the trucks.

Here are two videos showing the struggle between Rayshard Brooks and police before he was fatally shot.

One video is surveillance video provided by the Georgia Bureau of Investigation.

The other is eyewitness video shot from a cell phone.

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