CHARLOTTE, NC (AP) Police are taking special security precautions in anticipation of protests around a football game in downtown Charlotte.
The city has declared the Sunday afternoon game between the Charlotte Panthers and Minnesota Vikings an extraordinary event. That allows them to ban backpacks and regular items that can be used as weapons, such as chains and box cutters.
It also allows police more latitude to stop and search people within an area for several blocks in all directions from Bank of America Stadium.
There have been protests every day since Keith Lamont Scott was shot to death by Charlotte police on Tuesday. In his request for the declaration, Police Chief Kerr Putney wrote that he has intelligence that more protests and “acts of disruption” are planned during the game.