Black Lives Matter protesters demonstrating on the steps of Kenosha’s courthouse threatened on Tuesday to ‘shut down’ the city if Kyle Rittenhouse was acquitted, as the National Guard were put on standby to deal with any potential unrest.
An activist with a megaphone, wearing a BLM hoodie, urged on his fellow protesters, chanting: ‘If Kenosha don’t get it, shut it down’.
He then began chanting: ‘Seven shots in the back’ – a reference to Jacob Blake, a black man who was shot seven times by a white officer in Kenosha on August 23, 2020.
Blake’s shooting sparked the Kenosha riots, during which Rittenhouse on August 25, 2020 shot and killed two white BLM demonstrators and injured a third.
The jury in Rittenhouse’s case began their deliberations on Monday after an intense two-week trial.
Rittenhouse is charged with first-degree intentional homicide and other counts for killing Joseph Rosenbaum and Anthony Huber and wounding Gaige Grosskreutz.Â
Ahead of the verdict, the governor of Wisconsin, Tony Evers, ordered 500 members of the National Guard to be put on standby, 60 miles away, in case of unrest.
Many expect there to be fury from the ‘losing’ side of the argument, regardless of whether the 18-year-old is convicted or acquitted.  Â
Protesters staged a loud demonstration outside the Kenosha courthouse on Tuesday evening
Activists in Black Lives Matter shirts demanded that Rittenhouse be convicted
Activists in Kenosha took a knee on Tuesday night, waiting for the jury to return on Wednesday morning and resume deliberations
Behind him, supporters of Kyle Rittenhouse held placards aloft backing the teenager
Supporters of Kyle Rittenhouse clash with those who want to see him convicted on Tuesday
A protester is restrained by a friend during a confrontation with a counterprotester on the steps of the courthouse in Kenosha on TuesdayÂ
Police in Kenosha, Wisconsin, stand guard outside the courthouse on Tuesday as protesters gathered
Demonstrators calling for both Rittenhouse’s acquittal and conviction gathered on Tuesday outside the courthouse in Kenosha
Waving the black, red and green flag of Black Lives Matter, demonstrators gathered on Tuesday outside the Kenosha courthouse
‘We continue to be in close contact with our partners at the local level to ensure the state provides support and resources to help keep the Kenosha community and greater area safe,’ Evers stated.
‘The Kenosha community has been strong, resilient, and has come together through incredibly difficult times these past two years, and that healing is still ongoing,’ Evers said.Â
‘I urge folks who are otherwise not from the area to please respect the community by reconsidering any plans to travel there and encourage those who might choose to assemble and exercise their First Amendment rights to do so safely and peacefully.’Â Â
Kenosha Police Department and the Kenosha County Sheriff’s Department said they are monitoring the trial and are working with local and federal authorities to ensure the ‘safety of our communities.’
‘We recognize that there are varying opinions and feelings that revolve around the trial that may cause concerns,’ the two agencies said.Â
A row of police are seen outside the courthouse in Kenosha, as protesters – largely peacefully – shouted their views
A man who claimed to be hired security for a television station is seen standing by a news vehicle outside the Kenosha County Courthouse during the Rittenhouse trialÂ
Supporters of Kyle Rittenhouse stand in front of the Kenosha County Courthouse while the jury deliberates the Rittenhouse trial on November 16, 2021 in Kenosha, Wisconsin
Demonstrators protest outside the Kenosha County Courthouse, as the jury deliberates. One holds a sign that reads: Konvict Killer KyleÂ
Protesters hold signs outside the Kenosha County Courthouse, Tuesday, Nov. 16, 2021 in Kenosha, Wis., during the Kyle Rittenhouse murder trial. Rittenhouse is accused of killing two people and wounding a third during a protest over police brutality in Kenosha, last year
On Monday and Tuesday the courthouse saw demonstrators calling for Rittenhouse’s conviction, and supporters demanding his acquittal.
Protesters carried signs that read, ‘Know justice know peace,’ ‘Self-defense is not a crime,’ and ‘Racism kills.’Â
Their chants could be heard inside the courthouse.Â
Among them were Mark and Patricia McCloskey – the Missouri couple who hit the headlines when they stood outside their St Louis mansion armed with guns as Black Lives Matter protesters passed last summer.
Mark McCloskey is now running for the U.S. Senate, hoping to represent Missouri.
‘We feel for Mr. Rittenhouse,’ Mark McCloskey told Fox News on Monday. ‘We feel he acted in self-defense.
‘We think he’s been politically prosecuted, as were we, and we’re hoping that the jury find him not guilty on all counts and that he can go home a free man.Â
One demonstrator appears in support of Rittenhouse, holding an American flag and holding a sign that reads ‘Self-defense is not a crime’Â
Black Lives Matter activist calling for Rittenhouse to be found guilty of murder for the August 25, 2020 shootings protest in Kenosha on Tuesday
The BLM activists were outside the courthouse all day, and remained until night fell and the jury went home for the evening
At one point the BLM crowd took a knee outside the Kenosha courthouse, in the typical BLM show of defiance
A protester rips up a sign in support of Kyle Rittenhouse on the steps of the Kenosha courthouse on Tuesday
‘Rittenhouse is a young man.Â
‘He was doing the best he could to help his country and to save businesses up here in Kenosha, and as his reward, he’s having the rest of his life threatened.’Â
The McCloskeys were outside the courthouse again on Tuesday.Â
Residents of Kenosha were braced for unrest.
‘No matter which way the verdict goes, somebody is going to be upset,’ said Lyna Postuchow, owner of A Summer’s Garden, a floral shop.Â
She told NBC News: ‘You always have to be ready because you don’t know what’s going to happen, but we hope cooler minds prevail.’Â
Members of the Wisconsin National Guard are seen on Monday, 60 miles from Kenosha, on standby
Authorities in Kenosha insist that they are prepared for every eventuality
A boarded-up business is seen with a sign paying tribute to Jacob Blake, who was shot in the back by a police officer but survived. His shooting sparked the riots
Downtown Kenosha displayed messages in support of Jacob Blake on Monday
The city of Kenosha was boarded up on Monday, as the city braced for protests following the verdict
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Last summer saw her shop smashed during the violent unrest following Blake’s shooting, and $10,000 worth of damage was done.
‘Nobody wants a repeat of last summer. Those were not Kenosha people. That’s not who caused us damage,’ Postuchow said.Â
Gus Harris, owner of Flex & Burn Fitness Center, said he plans to board up his gym like he did in the summer of 2020.
‘Obviously, we’re concerned. Definitely,’ he told NBC.
Some were waiting to see which way the jury went, and how the crowd reacted, before deciding whether to board up their stores. Â
Mike Lampos, owner of the downtown bar Fec’s Place, said: ‘Our city is on the line. Either way, you’re going to have people who are unhappy. Only half will be happy about the outcome. The other half are the people who are coming,’ to possibly damage businesses, he said.
Rittenhouse fatally shot Joseph Rosenbaum (left), 36, with an AR-15-style semiautomatic rifle after Rosenbaum chased Rittenhouse across a parking lot and threw a plastic bag at him shortly before midnight on August 25, 2020. Moments later, as Rittenhouse was running down a street, he shot and killed Anthony Huber (right), 26, a protester from Silver Lake, Wisconsin
‘I wouldn’t say I’m not concerned, but I’m not as worried as I was. I’m not boarding up,’ he continued. ‘Well, if this were to turn into something we had last year and buildings are burning, I’ve got my boards ready. I could board up in an hour.’
Anne Benson, owner of Oliver’s Bakery, agreed.
‘Do I have my boards? Yes, I do.Â
‘Do I want to put them up? No, I don’t,’ she said, speaking to NBC affiliate TJM4.
‘I’m not sure what’s going to happen. All I’m going to do is stay positive.’
John Fox, a 61-year-old Kenosha resident who lived near the scene of the 2020 protests and previously represented the business district as an alderman, said he was deeply worried.
A shopping mall in Downtown Kenosha is seen boarded up, with a Banksy-style design on the board
Kenosha was quiet on Sunday, ahead of the week when deliberations would begin. Mike Lampos, who own’s Fec’s Place (pictured) said he was not intending on boarding up his business but was ready in case it was necessary
Buildings are seen boarded up around the courthouse on Monday, ahead of potential unrest
Signs on a business beg potential rioters not to set fire to the building
‘I am feeling, oh gosh, I am feeling hopeful that nothing gets out of hand no matter how the verdict comes in,’ Fox, who has since retired, told The Daily Beast.
He said last year’s unrest was ‘three days of destruction and death.’
He added: ‘I just hope that people remain calm and don’t do any damage and don’t hurt each other.’Â
The tense wait in Kenosha came as an attorney who initially represented Rittenhouse before they acrimoniously parted ways said that the teenager was always going to be acquitted, describing the case as politically-motivated ‘malicious prosecution’.
John Pierce, a high-profile former tank platoon commander who has made a name for himself representing multiple pro-Trump defendants – including 17 of the Capitol rioters – said that the trial was a sham.
Pierce, 49, told Fox News on Tuesday: ‘This case should have never been brought.
‘In my view, this is blatant prosecutorial misconduct. It’s malicious prosecution.’
Pierce, who runs how own Los Angeles-based firm, was hired by Rittenhouse shortly after the August 25, 2020 shooting.
John Pierce is pictured with Kyle Rittenhouse, his mother Wendy and sister Faith. Pierce represented Rittenhouse from August 2020 for just over three months
Kyle Rittenhouse, now 18, is seen in the courtroom during his two-week trial
Thomas Binger, prosecuting, shocked many in the court by brandishing Rittenhouse’s gun during closing arguments on Friday
On August 30, 2020, Pierce told Breitbart that the case was without merit.
‘We’re going to trial,’ said Pierce.
‘We’re going to win this case. If I’m the prosecutor, I drop these charges immediately.
‘I think that this is a rush of judgment, and if I was the prosecutor, I would be terrified to take this case to trial.
‘I do not believe that there’s a jury in this country that’s going to look at these facts and is going to find him guilty for murder.’
Pierce said at the time that Rittenhouse’s case was ‘absolute 100 percent self-defense, and we’re going to prove it if we have to.’
He added: ‘It was legal for him to possess that weapon in Wisconsin.’
Six of the 18 jurors who have heard the case were selected as alternates Tuesday morning and must remain in the courthouse while the remaining 12 deliberate in case they should be re-called
Defense attorney Mark Richards is pictured on Monday, during closing arguments
On Tuesday, Pierce said that he was confident his prediction over a year ago would stand.
‘In a radio interview that I did on Breitbart just a few days after the shootings, I said that that charge should not have been brought, and that it was going to go away at some point,’ he said.
On Monday, Judge Bruce Schroeder dismissed the sixth charge, of unlawful possession of a firearm, as Pierce predicted.
‘He was legally entitled to have that firearm with him,’ he said.
Judge Bruce Schroeder on Monday ruled that it was legal for Rittenhouse to carry the weapon. He threw out the charge, saying the wording of the law is ambiguous and confusing for even the most seasoned professionals like him, let alone for ordinary citizens
‘And it’s just clear as day from the evidence, most powerfully from the hundreds of angles of video evidence, that it was absolute perfect self-defense.’
Pierce and Rittenhouse parted ways in December 2020, after questions were raised about his financial arrangements.
Wendy Rittenhouse, Kyle’s mother, told The New Yorker she had concerns about the #FightBack Foundation, the group founded by Pierce.
‘Kyle was John’s ticket out of debt,’ Wendy said of Pierce.
Wendy said she asked Pierce to return $40,000 in donated living expenses that she believed belonged to the family, a request she told the New Yorker he had refused.
‘He said we owed him millions – he ‘freed Kyle,” she told the outlet.
The Rittenhouse family said they grew uncomfortable with Pierce, telling the New Yorker that he drank excessively in front of Wendy’s kids, called Kyle’s sister a ‘raging liberal,’ and charged the family for time spent shopping for a shirt to wear on Tucker Carlson’s show.
Pierce is seen on Tucker Carlson’s show in the fall of 2020, when he was representing Rittenhouse
In March, Wendy told the Law & Crime podcast: ‘They used Kyle to gain money, gain Twitter followers.
‘I felt now they didn’t care about Kyle.’
Pierce now runs a private law firm and has founded the National Constitutional Law Union, or NCLU — which he describes as ‘the ACLU but for the rest of us.’
Protesters made their feelings known on Tuesday outside the courthouse in Kenosha, Wisconsin
He has vehemently denied misappropriating any funds donated to Rittenhouse’s cause.
Pierce on Tuesday said he was confident Rittenhouse would be acquitted, despite the fact that he ‘was defamed by pretty much every media outlet and lots of politicians and celebrities as being mass murderer and a white supremacist, which is ridiculous.’
Pierce added: ‘The justice system, in many instances, is being weaponized for political purposes.
‘I think that’s one of the impacts that folks like George Soros have had in attempting to and being successful in installing many prosecutors throughout the country.’
Pierce praised Judge Schroeder, saying that he had impressed him with his no-nonsense manner.
Schroeder, 75, has frequently berated the prosecution and prevented them from bringing before the court detail they deemed relevant, such as Rittenhouse saying days before the shooting that he wanted to fire his gun at people.
‘This judge is just unbelievably good,’ Pierce said.
‘He’s just no bulls***, and he just goes by the law and, he is not going to be swayed one iota by anything happening outside the courtroom.’
On Tuesday the 12-person jury spent their first day deliberating the five charges.
If Rittenhouse is convicted, he faces the rest of his life behind bars. Many believe he will be acquitted, and the prosecution have even tried to lobby for watered-down convictions, in what is seen as a desperate bid to secure any type of conviction.
Wendy Rittenhouse this week also praised the judge, and said she was hopeful her son would be freed.
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