ATLANTA — Demonstrations are underway this evening in Atlanta, one that will demand justice for Trayford Pellerin. The other, held earlier in the day, expressed solidarity with the anniversary March on Washington that happened in the nation's capital.
The first demonstration in Atlanta was a gathering at the CNN Center near Centennial Olympic Park, which has frequently been a center of anti-racist activism since the nationwide protest movement gained steam earlier this summer. That gathering kicked off at 1 p.m. and was intended to express solidarity with the larger rally happening in Washington, D.C.
The second began at 6 p.m., also near the CNN Center. In that demonstration, protesters marched to the Georgia State Capitol and back to demand justice for Pellerin, a 31-year-old Black man who was killed in a police shooting last week in Louisiana.
Members of the National Guard were also present near the Capitol grounds.
Photos: Protests held in Atlanta for Trayford Pellerin, Jacob Blake
According to NBC News, Pellerin was shot and killed after officers responded to a call of a person with a knife at a Lafayette, La. convenience store.
The officers reportedly chased him on foot toward another convenience store and used their Tasers to try and stop him, but were ineffective. They then shot him as he tried to go into the other convenience store.
The shooting was captured on video, and the woman recording it can be heard saying, "That man's got a knife. They're going to shoot him." A few seconds later, she says "They're tasing him. He's not even doing nothing."
"Oh my God, they just shot this man. They literally just killed this man in front of me," she says in shock after Pellerin is shot.
Pellerin's death, along with the police shooting of Jacob Blake in Wisconsin, has renewed the intensity of protests around the country against excessive police force and systemic racism.
The planned demonstrations for Friday come on the heels of unrest that broke out in the wake of protests to demand justice for Blake in Atlanta on Wednesday.
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