St. Paul, MN: Thousands Converge After Philando Castile Verdict

This evening, thousands converged at the Minnesota Capitol in St. Paul, to response to the jury in Philando Castile’s murder finding the police officer, Jeronimo Yanez, not guilty. After a rally that grew to thousands, people took the streets of the city.

Easily a couple thousand people here already #philandocastile pic.twitter.com/59GAyd5lmE

— bengarvin (@bengarvin) June 17, 2017

Philando Castile’s murder, which took place after police pulled him over, sparked a wave of protests, freeway shutdowns, and riots. Castile was legally licensed to carry a weapon and told the officer he was legally armed when he was stopped, yet still, Yanez shot and killed him while his girlfriend filmed the entire interaction.

The only way to end police violence is by ending police.

— zellie (@zellieimani) June 16, 2017

In an emotional Facebook recording after the verdict, the mother of Philando Castile stated that she encouraged people to express their rage at the system and “fuck the police.” Currently in the United States, at least 551 people have been killed by US law enforcement in 2017, making for an average of over 3 per day.

#PhilandoCastille's mom went live on Facebook & said some real shit about what happened today. #BlackLivesMatter #ACAB pic.twitter.com/fesXYsm8Ir

— Ash J (@AshAgony) June 17, 2017

Unicorn Riot is livestreaming from protest march and is giving live updates. Please follow them on Twitter here and on Facebook here.