CHICAGO (Dispatches) -- Protests broke out on Friday and early Saturday all over the U.S. after Kyle Rittenhouse was acquitted of killing two men and wounding another at a Black Lives Matter demonstration.
Rittenhouse, 18, was cleared of all five charges, including the life-carrying sentence of intentional homicide. The U.S. has been incredibly divided over the case and the final verdict has left the country in unrest.
The defense argued the teenager had to shoot Anthony Huber and Joseph Rosenbaum, who were killed, along with Gaige Grosskreutz, who was wounded, on August 25 last year to save his own life.
Prosecutors questioned why Rittenhouse had crossed state lines with AR-15 semi-automatic rifle to “defend property and people” he did not know.
After the acquittal, protesters gathered in cities across the U.S., holding signs saying “Welcome to AmeriKKKa”.
A protestor told a crowd in New York: “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.”
Activists have previously pointed to differences in how police handled Rittenhouse’s case and that of Jacob Blake, the black man who was shot by a white Kenosha police officer several times in the back as he entered a car where his three children were seated.
Video footage played during the trial showed Rittenhouse running towards police still wearing his rifle, and continuing past the police line at officers’ direction.
“You can really smell and see the underlying systemic racism that’s in the judicial system and the policing system,” said Justin Blake, Jacob Blake’s uncle, following the verdict.
Businesses in California were seen boarding up their windows and police officers were setting up barricades before protests kicked off.
A demonstration in Oregon – where around 200 people smashed windows and threw objects at the police – was classed as a riot by U.S. authorities and media.
The majority of protests reportedly stayed peaceful around

the rest of the country while some gatherings saw counter-protests of sorts, where people dressed up in Stars and Stripes and carried signs saying: “Rittenhouse Rules!”
President Joe Biden seemed to take sides, saying the verdict “will leave many Americans feeling angry and concerned, myself included”.
However, he said the country should stick by the jury’s decision, finishing the statement with: “I believe that what unites us is far greater than what divides us.”
For many Black Americans, Rittenhouse’s acquittal on all charges by a Wisconsin jury confirmed their belief in two justice systems: one for white people and another for Black people.
Black activists in Kenosha said the verdict showed they need to continue pushing for change in their city and state — in local elections, in education and in changes to policing.
“You cannot tell me that these institutions are not sick,” said Kyle Johnson, an organizer with Black Leaders Organizing Communities. “You cannot tell me that these institutions are not tainted with racism.”
Judge Bruce Schroeder’s handling of the case drew scrutiny at several points, including when he said before it began that the men Rittenhouse shot could not be referred to as “victims” at the trial.
“From the outset, this case has pulled back the curtain on the profound cracks in our justice system — from the deep bias routinely and unabashedly displayed by the judge, to the apathy of officers who witnessed Rittenhouse’s crimes and did nothing,” said Ben Crump, a civil rights lawyer who has represented the families of Jacob Blake, Trayvon Martin and Ahmaud Arbery. “If we were talking about a Black man, the conversation and outcome would be starkly different.”
Frankie Cooks of Kenosha, standing at the courthouse steps shortly after Rittenhouse’s acquittal, said she has never heard of Wisconsin’s self-defense laws working in favor of those in her community.
“Rittenhouse wouldn’t have been acquitted if he was a Black man,” Cooks said.
For Cooks it’s personal. She said her 20-year-old son, Tyrese Sherrod, is charged with opening fire at several men who she says attacked him at a Kenosha gas station in October. He faces five felony counts, including first-degree recklessly endangering safety and first-degree reckless injury, according to the Kenosha News.
According to a complaint and video in the case, at least one person who Sherrod shot at had earlier pulled a gun on him. After Sherrod fired around 10 shots, he reportedly fled the scene.
“I’d like to see them handle his case — the case of a Black kid — like they handled this one,” she said. “I want to see that.”
Rittenhouse’s acquittal created fear that protesters against racial injustice and other causes will be in danger from right-wing causes that already deemed Rittenhouse a hero after the shootings. The Rev. Jesse Jackson, the longtime civil rights leader and activist, told The Associated Press that it suggests “it’s open season on human rights demonstrators.”
“The concern over this verdict is compounded by the fact that (Jacob) Blake, who was originally the issue, was shot by a policeman seven times in the back. He’s in a wheelchair today, paralyzed forever. And that policeman is walking the streets of Kenosha, on the force today,” Jackson said.