State of emergency declared in US city Charlotte amid violent protests

Demonstrators march against the Charlotte police shooting of Keith Lamont Scott in Manhattan, New York, US, September 21, 2016. [Photo/Agencies]

WASHINGTON - A state of emergency was declared in the US city of Charlotte, North Carolina, Wednesday as the second night of protests against a fatal police shooting of a black man turned violent.

The declaration was issued by North Carolina Governor Pat McCrory, who ordered the deployment of the state's National Guard and State Highway Patrol to assist with local law enforcement forces to restore the order in the city.

"Any violence directed toward our citizens or police officers and destruction of property should not be tolerated," McCrory said in a statement.

Rioters occasionally clashed with local police Wednesday night in a tense standoff in downtown Charlotte as hundreds of protesters, mostly African Americans, gathered for the second night to protest the fatal shooting of Keith Lamont Scott, a 43-year-old black man, on Tuesday.

Police repeatedly deployed tear gas to disperse the crowd of protesters.

One protester was reportedly shot and seriously wounded by a civilian, during the protests. Some reports said he died at a hospital.

Several police officers and two employees of the Hyatt Hotel uptown were wounded in the riots, local media reports said.

Some protesters were seen on TV video footage smashing windows of buildings along the streets, and setting contents in trash cans on fire.