Six arrests in Milwaukee after police cordon off city park and impose strict curfew in a bid to stop repeat of violent protests

Six people have been arrested in Milwaukee after another night of protests following the police shooting of a black man.

Sylville Smith, 23, was shot dead by a cop on Saturday after he allegedly turned and raised his gun towards an officer as he fled following a traffic stop.

The city has been rocked by rioting since the shooting, with business burned down and police officers assaulted by furious demonstrators, but tensions appeared to have eased last night.

There were 'heated' clashes early in the evening, police said, but most teenagers respected a strict curfew that saw youths banned from the streets after 10pm.

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Six people have been arrested in Milwaukee after another night of protests following the police shooting of a black man. Pictured, a protester in Milwaukee

One of the six protesters arrested yesterday in Milwaukee is cuffed and put in the back of a police van

Sylville Smith, 23, was shot dead by a cop on Saturday after he allegedly turned and raised his gun towards an officer as he fled following a traffic stop

'We think we are in, comparatively speaking, a positive place,' Milwaukee Police Chief Ed Flynn said shortly after the curfew began.

Flynn said the calm seemed to be linked to the arrests that were made earlier in the night after officers flooded the streets.

Smith was shot dead on Saturday as he turned towards an officer and raised his gun, according to police.

Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett said police bodycam footage showed 'without question' that Smith had a gun in his hand, however this video has not been released.

Barrett said Smith had 'more firepower than the officer' and his handgun - which he is said to have refused to drop - was loaded with 23 rounds.

Flynn said that his officers had pulled over Smith after they noticed the driver was 'behaving suspiciously'.

There were 'heated' clashes early in the evening, police said, but most teenagers respected a strict 10pm curfew. Pictured, a protester talks to police

There were fiercer protests earlier in the week as demonstrators marched through the neighborhood where Smith was shot 

The Milwaukee mayor and police chief said body camera footage shows Smith (pictured) was armed at the time of his death

Police wore their body cameras as they approached the vehicle and within 20 to 25 seconds Smith, who had a lengthy rap sheet, was dead.

After watching the officer's body camera footage, Flynn said Smith had run 'a few dozen feet' and turned toward the officer while holding a gun.

'It was in his hand. He was raising up with it,' the chief said.

He said the officer had told Smith to drop the gun and he did not do so.

It was unclear how many rounds the officer fired. Smith was hit in the chest and arm, Flynn said.

Flynn said his 24-year-old officer, who is black, feared for his life before shooting Smith, who was also black. The police officer's identity has not been released.

Dozens of officers (pictured) in riot gear were prepared for another night of protests on Sunday after Saturday's violence marred the city's north side

Police arrived on the scene Sunday as some protesters threw bottles and rocks before shots were reportedly fired

The shooting led to a first night of violence in which gunshots were fired, six businesses were torched and 17 people were arrested. 

Police reported four officers were injured and police cars were damaged before calm was restored. 

On Sunday night, when police in riot gear faced off with protesters throwing bottles and bricks, four officers were hurt and one person suffered a gunshot wound, police said. 

Three police squad cars were damaged and 14 people were arrested, authorities said.

Late on Monday afternoon, dozens of police, some in riot gear, cordoned off Sherman Park, the center of the neighborhood where the weekend shooting and subsequent disturbances took place.

Police Chief Flynn said the violence was 'quite frankly, unanticipated' and the curfew was a last resort.

Flynn said it was 'an error in narrative to assume' that because police shot someone that the shooting will be controversial 'so let's have a riot.' 

The National Guard had to be brought in to try and quell the unrest on Sunday night as protesters rallied in the streets (pictured)

Cecil Brewer, 67, who owns an apartment house directly across from the intersection where protesters burned a gas station on Saturday night and hurled rocks at police on Sunday night, said the rioting was all but inevitable.

'There's so much anger in these kids,' Brewer said. The shooting 'was like a spark in a powder keg. It doesn't matter to them if what the authorities are saying is true'. 

DeShawn Corprue, 31, who lives behind the burned-out BP station, said nothing that police released about Smith's death would have stopped the weekend's unrest.

'People are just so angry,' he said.

Flynn blamed a Chicago chapter of the Revolutionary Communist Party for coming to town and inciting Sunday's violence.

'There is ample opportunity for second-guessing, I'm sure,' Flynn said.