Author: Wisconsin Public Radio

A Wisconsin activist arrested in Kenosha and held on charges she broke curfew is part of a lawsuit that accuses the Kenosha police of selectively enforced the city’s curfew, targeting those protesting police brutality while ignoring violations by pro-police activists. Adelana Akindes, 24, was arrested on August 26 as she and several other activists left their home after the city’s 7:00 p.m. curfew to join protests against the August 23 police shooting of Jacob Blake. She was one of dozens of protesters arrested and held, and her arrest gained attention in part because the group was picked up by...

Criticism of law enforcement leadership in Kenosha intensified recently, with the Rev. Jesse Jackson calling out the county sheriff for comments he made two years ago, and the American Civil Liberties Union calling for the resignations of both the sheriff and the city’s chief of police. Jackson visited Kenosha on August 27 to show his support for the family of Jacob Blake — a 29-year-old Black man whose shooting by Kenosha police on August 23 has spurred four consecutive nights of protest in the city. Jackson played audio of Kenosha County Sheriff David Beth from 2018 that started circulating...

Police and federal law enforcement agents used unmarked vehicles to arrest and detain protesters on August 26 in Kenosha. According to activists, at least 12 protesters were arrested this way. A video posted online shows a man wearing a U.S. Marshal uniform along with police pointing guns at a van stopped near a gas station, then breaking the van’s window and taking passengers away in vehicles without markings or license plates. The people in the van were part of Riot Kitchen 206, a Seattle nonprofit that provides food for protesters. A board member with the organization called the arrests...

A group of Milwaukee-based Black Lives Matter protesters who are marching to Washington DC were shot at and struck on Monday night, August 24, as they crossed through Pennsylvania. Pennsylvania State Police confirmed Tuesday morning, August 25, in a press release that they were investigating the shooting. In a livestream of the incident shared on Facebook by Milwaukee activist Frank “Nitty” Sensabaugh, multiple gun shots can be heard. The video shows what appear to be two men standing near a street talking to protesters. “This dude is shooting at us,” Nitty says in the video. Later in the video,...