POLICE in the US city of Dallas arrested the leader of a Black Lives Matter march on Wednesday night after they had attempted to ban the protest.

Police Chief David Brown had urged organiser Dominique Alexander, founder of civil rights group Next Generation Action Network, to cancel the protest, saying such city centre events posed a “tactical threat” to officers.

The group also organised the July 7 protest that ended with sniper Micah Johnson killing five police before being killed by a police bomb.

Just before the protest was set to begin, Mr Alexander was arrested outside City Hall.

A police spokeswoman said the protest leader was issued a criminal trespass warning and arrested on unrelated warrants for failure to appear in court to pay $5,000 (£3,850) in outstanding road tolls.

His lawyer Kim Cole said her client believed the warrants had been resolved a year before.

About 25 demonstrators gathered outside the jail where Mr Alexander was being held until Ms Cole emerged to say he was safe and in good spirits.

Meanwhile Los Angeles police were yesterday investigating the fatal shooting of a 14-year-old boy by officers.

Police claimed Jesse James Romero shot at police after they were called to investigate a vandalism report in the Boyle Heights district on Tuesday, and that they recovered a revolver from his body.

But the teen’s mother Teresa Dominguez disputed the police account, telling local media that her son was “a good boy.”
“He didn’t do anything violent,” she said.