Protesters rally at SC State House Sunday night

Hundreds of Black Lives Matter protesters marched through downtown Columbia and to the S.C. State House Sunday night, protesting last week’s police shooting deaths of two African-American men in Louisiana and Minnesota.

“I just came to support,” said Zariyah Williams, 18, who was at the State House. “I’m tired of what’s going on.”

State Rep. Todd Rutherford, D-Richland said he was driving earlier Sunday night when he saw I-126 was shut down at the Huger Street and Elmwood Avenue split. He said the roads appeared to be shut down by police to make sure no one got hurt during protests. They were reopened later.

Rutherford said he parked and joined the protest.

“I’ve been involved in police shootings for years,” Rutherford said, adding he has seen the injustice. “To have a chance to voice my opposition to the way things go, I could not miss it.”

Rutherford noted the heavy police presence at the protest. “No one here wants any violence toward the police; we simply want the violence toward African-Americans to stop.”

At least 40 police officers lined the top of the State House steps at 11 p.m. The crowd began to disperse around 11:15 p.m. It was not known late Sunday whether there were any arrests.

Jalaludin Abdul-Hamid, 36, said from the rally he was frustrated that a year after the Confederate battle flag was lowered, the Secessionist Party had returned earlier Sunday to the State House to fly it again, if just for the day.

“Why not celebrate unity?” Abdul-Hamid said. “Today should’ve been for all us. For unity. We should be moving forward.”

This story was originally published July 10, 2016 at 11:52 PM with the headline "Protesters rally at SC State House Sunday night."