A civilian was critically injured in riots which continued Wednesday in Charlotte, North Carolina, amid escalating tensions after a black man was shot by police Tuesday.
Pat McCrory, the North Carolina governor, declared a state of emergency and said the National Guard and state highway patrol troopers would be deployed.
The riots broke out after two cases where black citizens were killed by police, in Tulsa, Oklahoma and in Charlotte, North Carolina. 16 policemen were wounded in the clashes which broke out in Charlotte, North Carolina on Tuesday night after a 43-year-old black civilian was shot dead by a black policeman. Police claim that the man killed, Keith Lamont Scott, was armed and ignored police orders when he was shot while his family maintains that he was holding a book at the time.
Rioters hurled stones at police and also plundered the local branch of Walmart. Police used tear gas to disperse the rioters.
The latest trouble began with a peaceful rally that turned violent after several hundred chanting demonstrators marched through downtown Charlotte.
As they approached the town's central intersection, protesters confronted a column of patrol cars and officers in front of the Omni Charlotte Hotel and began to surround groups of police and their vehicles.
Police then unleashed volleys of rubber bullets, pepper spray, tear gas and flash-bang grenades to disperse the protesters, who began hurling fireworks and debris at officers outside the hotel.
Officials maintain that the civilian injured was shot by another civilian and not by police.
In Tulsa, Oklahoma riots also broke out Tuesday after a policewoman, Betty Shelby killed an unarmed black man, Terence Karcher. The case was recorded on video. Shelby's lawyer claimed that Karcher did not obey her orders and put his hand in his pocket a number of times leading her to think that he intended to take out a gun.