About 300 demonstrators defied the city’s 8pm curfew again after Governor Tony Evers declared a state of emergency earlier following a night of violence and destruction that saw rioters set fire to businesses and vehicles across the city.

Kenosha has become the US’ latest flashpoint in a summer of racial unrest after police officers shot 29-year-old Blake, an unarmed black man, multiple times in the back during a confrontation on Sunday, leaving him paralyzed.

The shooting comes three months after the death of George Floyd in Minneapolis which sparked nationwide protests against police brutality and racism.

As tensions flared for a third night, police in riot gear fired rubber bullets, tear gas and flash-bang rounds as they skirmished after dark with defiant demonstrators outside a courthouse and adjacent park in downtown Kenosha, the Daily Mail reported.

But there was no immediate sign of buildings or cars being set ablaze, as happened on Monday night.

Demonstrators, some of whom were wearing helmets and equipped with makeshift protective gear, were seen trying to storm a black iron fence that had been installed earlier to protect the court from rioters.

Meanwhile, officers dressed in riot gear stood guard behind the barrier, holding up shields as protesters shouted expletives and hurled bottles at them.

Footage from the scene also showed people throwing fireworks in the direction of cops as they ignored their orders to disperse.

In one video shared by a journalist on Twitter, one man was seen trying to set fire to an American flag before being deterred by pepperballs fired by police.

Kenosha County sheriffs deputies warned crowds over loud speaker that they were participating in an unlawful gathering while urging them to leave the area.

The crowd responded by chanting “black lives matter”, prompting police to fire rubber bullets.

Several military-style armored patrol vehicles were also called in and were seen maneuvering around the county courthouse, firing tear gas at the crowd.

About three hours after declaring the protest an unlawful assembly, authorities had managed to push Tuesday night’s crowd out of the downtown park, with demonstrators scattering down streets.

disturbances came hours after Governor Evers vowed to deploy additional National Guard troops in a bid to restore order in the town, while Blake’s mother publicly appealed for calm during a press conference held outside the court.

Blake, 29, a father of six, was struck from behind at point-blank range in a hail of bullets fired on Sunday by police who were following him with guns drawn as he walked away from officers to his car and opened a door to the vehicle.

Three of his young sons inside the automobile – aged three, five and eight – witnessed their father being gunned down, according to civil rights attorney Ben Crump, who represents the Blake family.

A bystander captured the encounter in video footage that immediately went viral, unleashing outrage over the latest in a long series of instances in which police have been accused of using indiscriminate lethal force against African Americans.

Blake, who had been attempting to break up a quarrel between two women, was struck by multiple gunshots fired at him, all by one officer.

Crump also revealed Blake was undergoing surgery for his injuries, adding that the bullets severed his spinal cord and shattered his vertebrae. Another attorney said there was also severe damage to organs.

“It’s going to take a miracle for Jacob Blake Jr to ever walk again,” Crump said.

Local organizers spoke before the crowd gathered in their pursuit of justice. The group began marching a short time later, taking their message down Fifth Avenue and into Washington Square Park. Multiple marches and protests broke out across the city throughout the evening, their message echoing down city blocks, NYC reported.

“We want to be out here because the police, they’re not saving us, they’re hurting us. We need to shut it down,” one protester said. “If they don’t do something with the policing, the world’s not gonna be alright.

The Wisconsin Department of Justice, which is investigating the shooting, did not released any details about the involved officers except to say they have been placed on administrative leave. Wisconsin’s governor summoned the National Guard to head off another round of violent protests in the state Monday.

Democratic Gov. Tony Evers said 125 members of the National Guard would be in Kenosha by night with responsibility for “guarding infrastructure and making sure our firefighters and others involved are protected.” County authorities also announced an 8 p.m. curfew.

The move came after protesters set cars on fire, smashed windows and clashed with officers in riot gear Sunday night over the wounding of the 29-year-old man, who was hospitalized in serious condition

The Kenosha Police Department has said its officers were responding to a call about a domestic dispute in the moments before the shooting.

Laquisha Booker, who is Blake’s partner, told NBC’s Milwaukee affiliate, WTMJ-TV, that the couple’s three children were in the back seat of the SUV when police shot him.

“That man just literally grabbed him by his shirt and looked the other way and was just shooting him. With the kids in the back screaming. Screaming,” Booker said.

A partial transcript of Ryan’s remarks at an event hosted by Solamere, a company linked to Sen. Mitt Romney (R-Utah), whom Paul shared a presidential ticket with in 2012, revealed that the former GOP House leader fears Trump could lose his home state as well as other states he carried in 2016, including the GOP stronghold of Arizona.

Arizona, Ryan said, was “presently trending against us,” according to the transcript obtained by the Times. He added that other states were also potential Biden pickups.

“Biden is winning over Trump in this category of voters 70 to 30, and if that sticks, he cannot win states like Wisconsin, Michigan and Pennsylvania,” said Ryan.

The Trump campaign dismissed those concerns in a statement provided to The Hill.

“We continuously track 17 states that will determine who the next president is – and that includes Wisconsin, Arizona, and Pennsylvania. President Trump has been, and remains, in strong position in all 17 those states and be re-elected. Joe Biden is a weak candidate who is obviously a hapless tool of the extreme left. President Trump kept his promises, has a strong record of achievement for the American people, and will be re-elected,” said Tim Murtaugh, a Trump campaign spokesman.

Ryan’s warning comes as Trump’s reelection prospects appear to have taken a hit amid a slew of new polls showing the president trailing Biden by double digits nationally.

In a new interview with Fox News this weekend, the US president insisted that his polling did not show the entire scope of his strength with voters and referred to them as “fake polls.”

“I’m not losing, because those are fake polls. They were fake in 2016 and now they’re even more fake. The polls were much worse in 2016,” said Trump.