DALLAS (AP) — Police have arrested about 100 people in St. Paul during protests of the recent police killings of black men in Minnesota and Louisiana.
Authorities say 21 St. Paul officers and six state troopers were hurt during the fracas late Saturday and early Sunday.
St. Paul Mayor and Police Chief Todd Axtell are condemning the violence. Axtell calls the pelting of officers with rocks, bottles and other objects “a disgrace.”
About half the arrests came during a blockade of Interstate 94 in St. Paul, the Star Tribune reports. About 50 arrests were made early Sunday in another part of St. Paul. The interstate reopened early Sunday morning.
The protest was among several demonstrations nationwide following the deaths of 32-year-old Philando Castile in suburban St. Paul and 37-year-old Alton Sterling in Baton Rouge, Louisiana.
President Barack Obama says protesters who attack police officers are doing a disservice to their cause.
Obama said in Madrid after meeting with Spain’s acting prime minister that one of the great things about America is that individuals and groups can protest and speak truth to power. He says the process is sometimes messy and controversial, but the ability to engage in free speech has improved America.
Obama also cautions that if protesters paint police with a broad brush, they could lose allies for their cause. At the same time, he says that when police organizations acknowledge there is a problem stemming from bias, it will contribute to solutions.
Obama is cutting his first visit to Spain a day short because of a series of deadly shootings in the U.S.
