Teenager accused of two killings at centre of vigilantism debate amid protests

Kyle Rittenhouse (Chicago Sun-Times/AP)

A white 17-year-old accused of killing two people with an assault rifle in Wisconsin has become the focal point of a debate over anti-racism demonstrations which have gripped many American cities and the vigilantism that sometimes meets them.

On Tuesday, Kyle Rittenhouse grabbed an AR-15 style rifle and joined several other armed people in the streets of Kenosha, where businesses had been vandalised and buildings burned following a police shooting that left the 29-year-old black man Jacob Blake paralysed.