Seattle cop rides bike over protester's head amid anti-racism demos: Video

In yet another indication of police brutality against protesters in the United States, an American police officer has been captured on video riding his bicycle over the head of an anti-racism demonstrator in the US city of Seattle, Washington.

The video of the incident went viral in the early hours of Thursday, showing a Seattle police officer rolling the front and rear tires of his bicycle over a protester's head and neck area as the man was lying on the ground in downtown Seattle.

Then we see officers swarm the protester, identified as Camillo Massagli, who was said to have been arrested for what the police claimed was obstruction of a public thoroughfare and failure to disperse.

“This was not an accident, you can see very intentionally the officer very deliberately take his bike and run over,” said a witness, named Joey Wieser, who recorded a 35 second video of the incident.

It remains unclear if the man was seriously injured since he was wearing a helmet.

The Seattle Police Department said in a statement that the officer has been placed on administrative leave and his actions are being investigated as more than 30 complaints have been received about this violent incident.

The video and subsequent outrage comes as tensions rise between protesters against systemic racism by police officers, after the Kentucky attorney general announced on Wednesday a decision not to bring homicide charges against officers involved in the fatal shooting of Breonna Taylor.

Louisville anti-racism protests resume amid tensions over Breonna Taylor ruling

A second night of anti-racism rallies got off to a peaceful but tense start in Louisville, Kentucky, on Thursday.

Mass protests were staged in major cities across the US, as swaths of people gathered to voice their strong objection to the decision and demand justice for the African American woman killed at the hands of police in Louisville, Kentucky.

People took to the streets of the US city of Los Angeles on Thursday, marching through the streets to express their anger at police brutality in their country. Vehicles were also seen driving by in support of the protesters.

Similar rallies also took place in Detroit, Louisville and a number of other cities, with police saying more than a dozen protesters had been taken into custody.

The 26-year-old Taylor was fatally shot by several police officers in March.

US police have 400-year history of anti-black racism: Academic

Racial discrimination against people of color, recently compounded by the brutal murder of African American George Floyd in the US police custody in Minneapolis, has a history of nearly 400 years in the United States, says an academic at Michigan State University.

The United States has been the scene of widespread demonstrations in condemnation of police violence and racial injustice against people of color since the brutal murder of African American George Floyd in late May, when a white police officer knelt on his neck for over eight minutes in Minneapolis, Minnesota.

The killing has revived the debate about race relations in America and prompted minority groups across the country to vent their long-felt indignation about systemic racism, also breathing new life into the ‘Black Lives Matter’ movement.

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