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County Sheriff Blames President for Police Deaths in Dallas, Black Lives Matter Protests Continue

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Wicomico County Sheriff Mike Lewis is holding President Barak Obama responsible for the tragedy that took place in Dallas that five police officers dead and at least 7 other wounded.

Appearing on the Hannity Show on Fox he said that, ”It’s his attitude to law enforcement, he clearly does not like law enforcement.”

The Salisbury Daily Times reports that Lewis has been highly critical of the President’s sympathy for the Black Lives Matter movement that has brought attention to the deaths of African Americans at the hands of law enforcement.

Lewis was also critical of the way the Baltimore police handled the riots that broke out after Freddie Gray died from a spinal injury he suffered while in police custody.

The Wicomico county law enforcement officials complained that the Baltimore police were not aggressive enough against looters and protesters.

Baltimore School Official Arrested in Protest

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DeRay Mckesson

BALTIMORE (AP) - Baltimore schools CEO Sonja Santelises says she's waiting for more information about the arrest of prominent Black Lives Matter activist DeRay Mckesson, the district's Interim Chief Human Capital Officer.

McKesson was arrested Saturday during a protest in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. Protesters were demonstrating against the shooting death Tuesday of Alton Sterling.

Santelises told The Baltimore Sun  she was still waiting to hear exactly what happened. She told the paper: "We have had as a country a tense, tense week, and DeRay is still a private citizen and he was on his time." She continued: "This is part of who he is, it's part of what drives him, and it's part of what drives him to move the work for kids."

It was not immediately clear what prompted Mckesson's arrest.

Virginia Protests

HAMPTON, Va. (AP) - The Hampton branch of the NAACP is hosting a prayer vigil and discussion in the wake of recent police shootings of black men and the killing of five police officers in Dallas.

Hampton NAACP Leader Gaylene Kanoyton tells The Daily Press  that the event will be held at 7 p.m. on Monday at the Bethel AME Church.

Kanoyton says the group wants to give people a chance to express their emotions. She says the community needs to "bring everybody together." She says community leaders from across Hampton are expected to attend the event.

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Meanwhile, hundreds of demonstrators marched across the six-city Hampton Roads, Virginia, area as part of a coordinated effort to speak out against violence by police against blacks.

Blacklivesmatter757 organized the protests in response to the shootings of the black men in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, and Falcon Heights, Minnesota. The organization called for protesters to shutdown streets in Hampton, Norfolk, Newport News, Chesapeake and Portsmouth and the waterfront in Virginia Beach on Sunday evening.

Video from the scene in Newport News shows protesters on a street corner holding signs and chanting "no justice, no peace" and "black lives matter." Some marchers spilled into the street blocking traffic as police cars stood by.

Blacklivesmatter757 uses the Hampton Roads area code to mark its affiliation with the national group.

Dover Protest

Around 40 to 60 protesters gathered in support of Black Lives Matter at Water Street in Dover and marched down Martin Luther King Junior Blvd Saturday night into the southbound lanes of South DuPont Highway blocking traffic.

WBOC reports that Dover Police showed up at an intersection along the boulevard and stopped traffic to ensure that protesters and motorists were able to safely navigate the situation.

The roadway was closed by police for around 5 to 10 minutes as the crowd dispersed on their own.

No arrests were reported.

The march comes in the wake of the two African Americans who lost their lives at the hands of law enforcement and the Dallas shooting that left five police officers dead last week.

Don Rush is the News Director at Delmarva Public Media. An award-winning journalist, Don reports major local issues of the day, from sea level rise, to urban development, to the changing demographics of Delmarva.