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Kyle Rittenhouse verdict: Protesters chant 'lock him up', riots erupt in Portland

Scores of people demonstrated against the verdict in Portland, Oregon and the demonstration was declared a riot

People have taken to the streets of the US after Kyle Rittenhouse was acquitted of all charges. The teenager was accused of fatally shooting Joseph Rosenbaum, 36, Anthony Huber, 26, and injuring Gaige Grosskreutz, 28, on August 25, 2020, after protests began in Kenosha, Wisconsin.

Rittenhouse was pressed with several charges, including first-degree reckless homicide, first-degree recklessly endangering safety, first-degree intentional homicide, attempted first-degree intentional homicide, possession of a dangerous weapon by a person under 18, and use of a dangerous weapon. But on November 19, he was found not guilty of all charges by jurors, which upset many and as a result, hundreds met outside the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York, to show their anger.

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Some were also seen marching through New York while holding signs that called Rittenhouse a “racist killer”. “The message is that when you stand up for black liberation, when you stand up for black lives, no matter who you are you automatically become a target of the system,” Na-Lakan Masego, a protester, told CBS New York.

Another demonstrator said: “By allowing Kyle Rittenhouse to walk away, this entire country – this government – has slapped us all in the face for the millionth time. We cannot allow them to continue treating us like we do not exist because they hurt us.”

A user @ScooterCasterNY shared a clip of the protest on Twitter and captioned it as “Protesters chant ‘every city every town, burn the precinct to the ground.’ #HappeningNow Hundreds March through Brooklyn #NYC to protest #RittenhouseTrial verdict Video by NewYorkCityPeople (FreedomNewsTV).” 

Scores of people also demonstrated against the verdict in Portland, Oregon. And later in the night, the demonstration was declared a riot after at least 200 protesters smashed windows, threw objects at cops and threatened to burn down the local Justice Center. Besides, several people gathered at Chicago’s Federal Plaza and were seen holding signs that read, -- “reject racist vigilante terror” and “lock him up”. Event speaker Jay Becker told the demonstrators: “He is part of a whole fascist movement that is gaining ground around the country and it will not stop until we recognize it and take matters into our own hands nonviolently refusing to accept a racist America.” Someone from the attendees then yelled, “The whole damn system is guilty as hell. Indict, convict, send Rittenhouse to jail.”