Americans protesting against police brutality march on Georgia capitol

Americans protesting against police brutality have marched on the Georgia state capitol after the killing of a 27-year-old black man by a white police officer sparked further unrest over the deaths of African-Americans at the hands of US law enforcement.

Protests first erupted in Atlanta in the state of Georgia on Saturday after a video emerged showing the fatal police shooting of Rayshard Brooks who had fallen asleep in his car at a Wendy's fast-food restaurant drive-thru line and who the officers wanted to take a sobriety test because he was suspected of being intoxicated.

Brooks was shot in the restaurant’s parking lot on Friday night after he allegedly scuffled with police officers. The incident was caught on tape.

On Monday, a large number of protesters took to the streets of Atlanta and marched on the capitol.

The protest was organized by the Georgia chapter of the civil rights organization the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP).

"We are done dying," the NAACP said in a statement.

"The Georgia NAACP will use the Constitutional right to assembly to demand state legislators address our legislative demands and ensure criminal justice reform ... and ending police violence against our communities."

Earlier in the day, Georgia prosecutors weighed bringing charges against the police officer who shot dead Brooks.

"If that shot was fired for some reason other than to save that officer's life or to prevent injury to him or others then that shooting is not justified under the law," Fulton County district attorney Paul Howard said.

The Wendy's surveillance video didn’t show the scuffle, but showed the victim running away from where police cars were parked.

Police said he resisted arrest and fled while grabbing a taser from one of the officers and was therefore shot to death.

On Saturday night, angry protesters shut down a major highway and set fire to the restaurant where Brooks was shot dead by a white police officer. Protesters also set fire to automobiles near the restaurant. Police fired tear gas at the protesters.

The Atlanta police officer who shot and killed Brooks has been fired, Atlanta police spokesman Carlos Campos said.

This comes amid ongoing protests over the murder of unarmed African American George Floyd in the city of Minneapolis nearly three weeks ago.

Atlanta Wendy's goes up in flames as anti-police protests grow

A video shows a restaurant in the US city of Atlanta in flames as protests escalate following the police killing of a 27-year-old African American man there.

Protests have been held across the US in response to the killing of Floyd, who died after a white police officer knelt on his neck for nearly nine minutes in Minneapolis on May 25.

Stacey Abrams, a former Democratic candidate for governor of Georgia, called Brooks's shooting a "murder."

"The decision to shoot him in the back was one made out of maybe impatience or frustration or panic, but it was not one that justifies deadly force," Abrams told CNN. "It was murder."

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