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'America's Tiananmen Square' photograph becomes defining image of country's civil unrest

A lone woman stands in front of heavily armed and armoured police in Louisiana, her arms reaching gently forward. Her face is calm but the situation is anything but.

The image, taken by Reuters photographer Jonathan Bachman, is being hailed as the defining image of the civil unrest sweeping across America in the wake of the deaths of two black men and five police officers.

The identity of the woman pictured in front of heavily armed police in Baton Rouge is as yet unknown. Photo: Reuters/Jonathan Bachman
The identity of the woman pictured in front of heavily armed police in Baton Rouge is as yet unknown. Photo: Reuters/Jonathan Bachman

The woman's name is not yet known.

Bachman told Buzzfeed she was the sole protester who refused to move when police tried to clear a blocked roadway in Baton Rouge, Louisiana - the city that has become the flashpoint for the latest round of Black Lives Matter protests.

"She just stood there and made her stand. I was just happy to be able to capture something like that,” Bachman said

Demonstrators raise their hands in the air as law officials march down a street during protests in Baton Rouge. Photo: Reuters/Shannon Stapleton
Demonstrators raise their hands in the air as law officials march down a street during protests in Baton Rouge. Photo: Reuters/Shannon Stapleton

That description has led many to compare Bachman's image to the famous picture of a Chinese man standing firm in the face of tanks in Tiananmen Square in 1989.

Bachman's photograph has quickly become the most recognisable picture the world has seen in the days following the deaths of Alton Sterling, Philando Castile and five Dallas police officers, Patrick Zamarripa, Brent Thompson, Lorne Ahrens, Michael Smith and Michael Krol.

Protests against the shootings of two black men by police officers shut down main arteries in a number of US cities on Saturday, leading to numerous arrests, scuffles and injuries in confrontations between police and demonstrators.

Police tackle demonstrator in in Baton Rouge, Louisiana on  July 10, 2016. Photo: Reuters/Shannon Stapleton
Police tackle demonstrator in in Baton Rouge, Louisiana on July 10, 2016. Photo: Reuters/Shannon Stapleton

Undeterred by heightened concerns about safety at protests after a lone gunman killed five police officers in Dallas on Thursday night, organisers went ahead with marches in the biggest metropolis, New York City, and Washington D.C., the nation's capital, among other cities.

It was the third straight day of widespread protests after the fatal shooting of Alton Sterling, 37, by police in Baton Rouge on Tuesday and the death of Philando Castile, 32, on Wednesday night in a St Paul, Minnesota suburb, cities which both saw heated protests on Saturday.

The most recent shooting deaths by police come after several years of contentious killings by law enforcement officers, including that of Michael Brown, a teenager whose death in the summer of 2014 caused riots and weeks of protests in the St Louis suburb of Ferguson.


On Saturday evening, hundreds of protesters shut down I-94, a major thoroughfare linking the Twin Cities, snarling traffic.

Protesters, told to disperse, threw rocks, bottles and construction rebar at officers, injuring at least three, St. Paul police said. Police made arrests and used smoke bombs and marking rounds to disperse the crowd.

Protesters at the scene said police fired tear gas and rubber bullets. Police said early on Sunday they had begun clearing the highway of debris in preparation for re-opening it.

Officers march down a street during protests in Baton Rouge. Photo: Reuters/Shannon Stapleton
Officers march down a street during protests in Baton Rouge. Photo: Reuters/Shannon Stapleton

A march in Baton Rouge saw scuffles between riot police and Black Panther activists, several of whom carried shotguns. Louisiana law allows for weapons to be carried openly.

After a short standoff later in the evening, riot police arrested as many as 30 demonstrators and recovered weapons. Prominent black activist and former Baltimore mayoral candidate Deray McKesson was among those arrested.

Demonstrators scuffle with police during protests in Baton Rouge. Photo: Reuters/Shannon Stapleton
Demonstrators scuffle with police during protests in Baton Rouge. Photo: Reuters/Shannon Stapleton

Protests also took place Saturday in Nashville, where protesters briefly blocked a road, and in Indianapolis. A rally in San Francisco also briefly blocked a freeway ramp, according to local media.

Hundreds of protesters marched from City Hall to Union Square in New York. The crowd swelled to around a thousand people, closing down Fifth Avenue.

Some chanted "No racist police, no justice, no peace" as rain fell in New York.

"I'm feeling very haunted, very sad," said Lorena Ambrosio, 27, a Peruvian American and freelance artist, "and just angry that black bodies just keep piling and piling up."

New York police said they arrested about a dozen protesters for shutting down a major city highway. (Additional reporting by Laila Kearney, Elizabeth Barber and Chris Michaud in New York; Writing by Nick Carey; Editing by Mary Milliken and Ryan Woo)