Protesters remain on Charlotte streets, defying midnight curfew

PIC:A demonstrator shouts during protests in Charlotte, North Carolina on September 22, 2016. Sean Rayford/Getty Images/AFP

Hundreds of protesters defied a midnight (0400 GMT) curfew Friday and continued demonstrations in Charlotte, North Carolina over the fatal police shooting of a black man.

An AFP correspondent at the scene reported several hundred demonstrators milling around the downtown area of the southern US city for a third consecutive night, amid a strong police presence.

The protests follow the shooting on Tuesday of Keith Lamont Scott, a 43-year-old African American -- the latest in a string of police-involved killings of black men that have fueled outrage across the United States.

North Carolina's governor has declared a state of emergency in Charlotte, and several hundred National Guard troops and highway police officers were deployed to reinforce the local force.

Police late Thursday fired tear gas and what appeared to be rubber bullets to disperse demonstrators blocking a main highway, but the demonstrations otherwise proceeded in a relatively calm manner.

Earlier, several hundred demonstrators blocked one lane of a major highway near the Bank of America Stadium, with some lying down as panicking drivers turned their cars around and drove off in the wrong direction.

In the center of Charlotte, the atmosphere was calmer as hundreds marched to the city police station carrying signs saying "Stop killing us" and "Resistance is beautiful".