Black Lives Matter protest blocks traffic on Allen Expressway

Demonstrators with Black Lives Matter stopped traffic on the southbound Allen Expressway on Monday night to protest the recent police shooting death of two black men.

The community organization held a small demonstration at Eglinton-Gilbert Parkette near the scene where Andrew Loku was shot and killed by police on July 5.

The group then moved onto the roadway, blocking dozens of cars around at 8 p.m.

Police urged motorists to avoid the area, while the TTC re-routed bus service on its Eglinton Avenue West routes.

Officers on scene have been turning cars around to get them off the roadway.

Loku, a 45-year-old man from South Sudan, refused to comply with police demands to drop a hammer before he was fatally shot, but critics have said the man may have been having a mental crisis at the time.

The protesters were also demonstrating about the death of Jermaine Carby, who was fatally shot during a traffic stop last year. Last week, Ontario's Special Investigations Unit, which investigates cases of death, serious injury or sexual assault involving the police, cleared the officer involved in Carby's shooting of any wrongdoing.  

Black Lives Matter also recently staged a demonstration about Loku's death at a Toronto Police Services Board meeting after the police refused to meet several of its demands in the wake of the shooting.

Black Lives Matter wants video of Loku's death to be released and for the officers involved in the shooting to be charged. They have also sought a formal apology from the police chief.

The SIU is still investigating Loku's death.