Nationwide protests over the killing of George Floyd – the Black man who died on Monday after a white Minneapolis police officer knelt on his neck – continued on Friday evening as Americans demanded that those involved face justice.
On Friday, protesters took to the streets in Minneapolis; Washington; Louisville, Kentucky; New York City; Atlanta; Denver; Houston; Portland; Phoenix; San Jose and Bakersfield, California; Chicago; Detroit; and other cities.
After three nights of protests, Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey announced a mandatory curfew going into effect at 8pm. But in the hours before that, hundreds of protesters marched across the Hennepin Avenue Bridge chanting Floyd’s name and holding signs emblazoned with three of his final words: “I can’t breathe.” As the curfew time approached, law enforcement appeared to deploy tear gas against protesters, according to multiple reports.
Minnesota Governor Tim Walz warned in a press conference early on Saturday the situation remains “incredibly dangerous.” Walz said he understood the “rage,” but not the “wanton destruction.” Frey said he was “reeling” along with the rest of his city, but emphasised that “there is no honour in burning down your city.”
The state’s National Guard was preparing to deploy 1,700 soldiers, Major General Jon Jensen announced, in what would be the largest deployment within Minnesota in the state’s history.
At the protest in New York, police were filmed hitting demonstrators with batons and spraying what appeared to be pepper spray, according to reporters on the scene. A dozen NYPD officers were injured and at least 200 protesters were arrested, local station WABC-7 reported.
Police in several cities, including Boston and Fort Wayne, Indiana, reportedly fired tear gas to disperse protesters.
In Atlanta, police also reportedly used tear gas on protesters outside CNN headquarters, where police were barricaded in the entry after some demonstrators shattered glass walls. Georgia Governor Brian Kemp issued a state of emergency around midnight.
The White House went on lockdown as protesters neared Pennsylvania Avenue and kicked down barricades guarded by the Secret Service, CNN reported. No one was allowed to leave the grounds, including members of the press, as demonstrators clashed with police.
In California, a black Toyota captured on video appeared to deliberately drive into protesters in Bakersfield. It was spotted later speeding down a road where demonstrators were gathered. It couldn’t immediately be determined if anyone was seriously injured. In Oakland, one Federal Protective Service officer died from gunshot wounds. Another was injured, reported KCBS Radio.
In downtown Los Angeles, protesters shut down the 110 Freeway as they chanted, “I can’t breathe” and “No justice, no peace.” Some clashed with police after a squad car was attacked.
In Houston, almost 200 people were arrested for participating “in unlawful assemblies throughout the day & night,” police tweeted. In Portland, police declared “a riot” and a Chase Bank building was set on fire.
In Louisville, Kentucky, law enforcement shot pepper pellets at a local news crew filming the protest, according to a local newscaster who was hit while reporting live. Police later apologised and said they would review the incident.
Minneapolis police over previous nights had responded to protests by wearing riot gear and firing tear gas and rubber bullets on demonstrators. Amid some of the civil unrest on Thursday night, a local police precinct in Minneapolis was burned and a Target and other stores were damaged.
The nationwide civil unrest follows a days-long wait for the Friday arrest of Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin. The white cop pressed his knee into George Floyd’s neck as he repeatedly said he couldn’t breathe. Floyd, who was handcuffed and unarmed, was being arrested after he was accused of fraud involving a possibly counterfeit $20 bill. Chauvin held his knee on Floyd’s neck for nearly nine minutes, according to the complaint filed against him, with Floyd reportedly unresponsive for nearly three of those minutes.
Chauvin is facing charges of third-degree murder and manslaughter. Floyd’s family issued a statement on Friday saying they were disappointed authorities didn’t seek first-degree murder charges. The family, calling Chauvin’s arrest “welcome but overdue,” also demanded that the other three officers present –Thomas Lane, Tou Thao and J. Alexander Kueng – be arrested.
“The pain that the black community feels over this murder and what it reflects about the treatment of black people in America is raw and is spilling out onto streets across America,” the family’s attorney Ben Crump wrote in a statement.
The local NAACP chapter echoed the family’s demands for the arrest of the other officers. “All humanity should be outraged,” Leslie Redmond, president of the Minneapolis NAACP, said Friday.
President Donald Trump tweeted early on Friday about the previous nights’ protests in Minneapolis, calling the largely Black demonstrators “thugs” and threatening them with state-sanctioned violence, adding, “when the looting starts, the shooting starts.”
Later in the day, Trump claimed to clarify his tweet, saying “looting leads to shooting” and noting a shooting in Minneapolis on Wednesday and seven shots fired in Louisville on Thursday during the demonstrations. At a Friday event, he also expressed “deepest condolences” to Floyd’s family and lamented the “horrible, horrible situation,” but he also condemned the civil unrest, saying “we can’t allow” protests “to turn into anarchy and chaos” and “looters should not be allowed to drown out the voices of peaceful protesters.”