8 arrested as police tear down protest camp in Minneapolis

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — Officers on Thursday cleared away a protest encampment that sprang up in front of a Minneapolis precinct following the fatal police shooting of a black man last month, arresting eight demonstrators and erecting a fence to dissuade others from trying to return.

Dump trucks carried away tents and supplies while crews removed makeshift barricades that had been blocking the street in front of the station and erected a high fence to keep people off the lawn and sidewalk.

Police officers responding to a report of an assault in which Clark was a suspect said they arrived to find him interfering with paramedics who were trying to treat the victim.

Protesters have demanded the release of any videos showing the shooting and called for a special prosecutor to be appointed instead of leaving it up to a grand jury to decide whether the officers should face charges.

About 200 protesters and their supporters regrouped at 4 p.m. inside Minneapolis' City Hall, and speakers continued to press their demands for the release of videotapes and racial equity.

Nekima Levy-Pounds, president of the Minneapolis NAACP and a protest leader, said before the rally that the raid would have "a chilling effect on free speech" but vowed that the city hadn't heard the last from protesters.