By Staff, Agencies 

Police in major cities across the US are bracing for possible unrest through the weekend after Kyle Rittenhouse was found not guilty on all charges, including reckless and intentional homicide, in Kenosha, Wisconsin.

There are already 500 National Guard troops on standby in Kenosha amid concerns of potential violence in such cities as Chicago, Washington, New York, and Los Angeles, among others.

This comes as the American public remains at odds over the Rittenhouse case, with one camp insisting that the 18-year-old was guilty and needed to be convicted, and advocates of the opposite arguing that the case was "political" and that accusations against the teenager were fuelled by a "left-wing cult".

Fox News cited a police department spokesperson in Milwaukee as saying that they had not received any credible threats to the city and that the department respects people's rights in sync with the First Amendment, which guarantees freedoms concerning religion, expression, assembly, and the right to petition.

The New York City Police Department [NYPD], in turn, did not elaborate on any specific preparations for possible violence over public reaction to the Rittenhouse verdict, but admitted that the NYPD protects the "constitutional right to peaceful protest".