Kyle Rittenhouse trial | The jury will begin its deliberations on Tuesday

(Washington) In a tense climate, the prosecution and defense wrapped up their presentations on Monday at the trial of Kyle Rittenhouse, a young white American who killed two people on the sidelines of anti-racist protests in 2020.

The jury, charged with saying whether the young man was guilty of murder or if he acted in self-defense, will begin deliberations on Tuesday morning.

In anticipation of a verdict that could create further unrest in Kenosha, a town in the Great Lakes region, the governor of Wisconsin has asked 500 National Guard troops to stand by.

During their last shot, the prosecution and the defense accused each other of bad faith in this case, emblematic of the fractures of the United States on firearms and the anti-racist movement Black Lives Matter (black lives count ).

The drama is in fact part of the immense mobilization against racism and police violence in the summer of 2020. On August 23, Kenosha was set ablaze in turn because a white policeman had seriously injured a young African American, Jacob Blake.

On the third night of the riots, Kyle Rittenhouse, then 17, had gone with an AR-15 semi-automatic rifle through the streets of the city and joined armed men who had come to “protect” the businesses. Under confused circumstances, he opened fire, killing two and injuring one.

“Hunting table”

The accused was “a tourist of chaos” who “sought excitement” and “voluntarily and knowingly put himself in a dangerous situation,” pleaded Monday prosecutor Thomas Binger.

“Keep in mind that the accused caused the incident,” pointing his gun at the crowd, he told the jurors. “You cannot invoke self-defense against a danger that you create,” Thomas Binger said again.

To support his remarks, the prosecutor, in a theatrical gesture, himself put the assembly in play with the murder weapon.

“Everyone he shot attacked him,” retorted the young man’s lawyer, Mr.^e Mark Richards, denouncing “political” prosecutions.

Thomas Binger “has a personal quest to pin my client on his hunting board,” he accused. His services “needed a manager” for “the terror in Kenosha”, but they focused on the wrong person.

Those responsible for the tragedy “are the demonstrators who have turned into rioters,” said M^e Richards, echoing a widespread view among some supporters of former President Donald Trump that the 2020 anti-racist protests were the work of “anarchists” and far-left agitators.

Conversely, on the left, Kyle Rittenhouse represents for many the excesses of gun culture and the right to self-defense.

At the end of the day, Judge Bruce Schroeder called on jurors not to base their decision on their “political beliefs”. “You should not pay attention to the opinions of anyone, even the President of the United States or his predecessor,” he added.