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Demonstrations in response to a court ruling: Thousands of people protested Kyle Rittenhouse's acquittal over the weekend in Chicago and neighboring Kenosha. The 18-year-old Rittenhouse shot two men and injured one on August 25, 2020 during the major protests against police violence and racism in Kenosha. Rittenhouse said he wanted to protect shops from looting together with other armed men and had intervened as a self-appointed law enforcement officer at Black Live's Matter demonstrations. In the right-wing conservative television station Fox, he defended his act and the acquittal.
Kyle Rittenhouse, Gunner: “It wasn't Kyle Rittenhouse that was charged in Wisconsin, but the right to self-defense. If I had been convicted, no one would be allowed to protect his life from attackers. I was only there to help those who needed it. And terribly, I only helped rioters. "
Kyle Rittenhouse, shooter: I wish it never happened, but it is and we can't help it. That it polarizes so strongly is disgusting. Right or left, they are using me for something they should never have done. "
The ruling reignited the debate over racism and gun ownership in the United States.
Rittenhouse's victims were two white men.
He himself had previously been photographed with men who apparently belong to the right-wing extremist Proud Boys, but denied being a racist.
Black activists criticized the verdict for a black teenager.