Protesters Set Minneapolis Police Station Ablaze
A
police officer was filmed kneeling on the neck of George Floyd, 46, despite him
saying he could not breathe.
President
Donald Trump said "thugs" were dishonouring his memory and called on
the National Guard to restore order.
The
incident has added to anger over police killings of black Americans, including Breonna
Taylor in Kentucky.
Mr
Floyd's family have demanded that the four police officers implicated in his
death face murder charges. Prosecutors have said they are still gathering
evidence.
A CNN
journalist, Omar Jimenez, and his camera crew were arrested
live on air by Minnesota state police officers on Friday morning, apparently because
they did not move on when instructed.
The
team was released an hour later, after the governor apologised for the arrest.
There have also been
demonstrations in other US cities, including New York, Los Angeles, Chicago,
Denver, Phoenix and Memphis.
Twitter
accused Mr Trump of glorifying violence in a post that said: "When the
looting starts, the shooting starts."
On Thursday,
protesters gathered outside the police department's 3rd Precinct, the epicentre
of the unrest.
Officers fired tear
gas and rubber bullets in an attempt to disperse the crowd. But the cordon
around the police station, which is near where Mr Floyd died, was breached by
protesters, who set fire to it and two other nearby buildings as the officers
withdrew.
Minneapolis Mayor
Jacob Frey said there had been no choice but to evacuate the police station,
adding: "The symbolism of a building cannot outweigh the importance of
life, of our officers or the public."
He
called the unrest "unacceptable", but recognised there was "a
lot of pain and anger".
He
spoke after a tweet from Mr Trump blamed Thursday's violence on a "lack of
leadership" in Minneapolis and warned that he would send in the National
Guard and "get the job done right" if Mr Frey failed to restore
order.
National
Guard personnel are normally under state control, although they can be put
under federal control in emergencies.
Mr Trump also
tweeted: "Any difficulty and we will assume control but, when the looting
starts, the shooting starts."
On
Friday, the White House Twitter account quoted the president's tweet on looting
and shooting.
 |
| George Floyd repeatedly told the police officers who detained him that he could not breathe |
The historical
context arises from riots in Miami in 1968. A federal task force found that the
use of the phrase about looting by the Miami police chief at the time was a
prime factor in the discontent that triggered the unrest.
The "twin
cities" of Minneapolis and St Paul, Minnesota heaved with unrest and
destruction overnight.
Several
areas that have no geographical significance to Floyd's death are now seeing
damage, and shops all over the region closed and barricaded their doors.
Protesters
in the streets want one thing: the arrest and prosecution of former Minneapolis
police officer Derek Chauvin, whose knee was pressed into Floyd's neck for
several minutes before he died.
But
at a press conference on Thursday, Hennepin County Attorney Mike Freeman was
noncommittal, promising only a "robust and meticulous" investigation.
Both the FBI and the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension are
investigating.
It's
unclear whether charges would actually bring the violence to a halt.
Developments
here are swift and chaotic. Friday morning broke with news that several fires
had been set before dawn in Minneapolis and that state police arrested a CNN
news crew on live television.
The
air in this relatively quiet Midwestern metropolis is filled with sirens and
smoke, and it seems there is no end in sight.
Earlier
on Thursday, Minnesota Governor Tim Walz had
activated the state's National Guard troops at the request of the mayors of
Minneapolis and the neighbouring city of St Paul, declaring the situation a
"peacetime emergency".
The four policemen
involved have been fired, a
nd the mayor has called for criminal charges against
the officer seen pinning Mr Floyd.
Speaking
through tears, Mr Floyd's brother, Philonise, told CNN on Thursday the officers
who "executed my brother in broad daylight" must be arrested and that
he was "tired of seeing black men die".
Mr Trump "was
very upset" when he saw the footage of Mr Floyd's death, White House press
secretary Kayleigh McEnany told reporters on Thursday.
A
number of celebrities, including John Boyega and Beyonce, have also expressed
outrage over the incident.
The
incident echoes the case of Eric Garner, who was placed in a police chokehold
in New York in 2014. His death became a rallying cry against police brutality
and a catalyst in the Black Lives Matter movement.
There were also
chaotic scenes during rallies in Denver, Colorado and in Columbus, Ohio.
The statehouse in
Denver was put under lockdown after gunfire was heard, while in Columbus
demonstrators reportedly broke some of the statehouse's windows before being
dispersed by police.
Seven
people were also shot in Louisville, Kentucky, at a protest over the death of
Breonna Taylor, who was shot by three white police officers in March.
Officers responding
to reports of the use of counterfeit money approached Mr Floyd in his vehicle
on Monday.
According
to police, he was told to step away from the car, physically resisted officers
and was handcuffed.
Video
of the incident does not show how the confrontation started, but a white
officer can be seen with his knee on Mr Floyd's neck, pinning him down.
Mr
Floyd can be heard saying "please, I can't breathe" and "don't
kill me".
The city has
identified the four officers involved as Derek Chauvin, Tou Thao, Thomas Lane
and J Alexander Kueng.
The
Minneapolis Police Officers' Federation said the officers were co-operating
with the investigation.
The
Minnesota police handbook states that officers trained on how to compress the
neck without applying direct pressure to the airway can use a knee under its
use-of-force policy. This is regarded as a non-deadly-force option.
FROM .bbc.com/news/world-us-canada
No comments