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CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. (AP) — University of Virginia students demanded answers about an arrest that left a classmate injured, and some were not satisfied with what they heard Friday during a forum with law enforcement officers.
Representatives of a black student organization repeatedly chanted in unison, “Answer the question we asked,” after officials gave broad answers to questions about Alcoholic Beverage Control officers’ training and tactics. Dozens of black students marched out of a university auditorium in the middle of the forum with fists raised, shouting “black lives matter.” The saying has become widely known following the killings of unarmed black men by police officers in Missouri and New York.
About 500 students and community members attended the forum, arranged by the U.Va. Student Council after 20-year-old Martese Johnson of Chicago was arrested by ABC law enforcement officers outside a Charlottesville bar early Wednesday. Johnson, who is black, needed 10 stiches close a gash on his head after Wednesday’s scuffle with officers. He attended the forum but did not speak.
Photos and video of the arrest have circulated widely on social media, showing Johnson with his face bloody as he’s pinned to the ground by an officer. In the video, Johnson can be heard repeatedly calling the officers “(expletive) racists.” Johnson is charged with obstruction of justice without force and public intoxication or swearing; police said he became “belligerent” when officers confronted him as he tried to enter a bar.
