Violence stops, protests continue
ESPER VS TRUMP US defence secy disagrees with president on deploying troops as thousands protest peacefully
nWASHINGTON: An eight-foot tall fence greeted protesters at the White House on Tuesday, aimed at keeping them away from the seat of American power, but it failed to deter them from showing up in larger numbers. They stayed put till late, chanting slogans and singing in defiance of a night-time curfew.
Protesters in New York City also stayed on the streets till late in violation of a night-time curfew. The protests against the killing of George Floyd in police custody were largely peaceful in the initial hours, but late into the night, looting and violence broke out sporadically, though not on the scale of the previous night.
More than two dozen American cities such as Washington, DC, NYC and Los Angeles were under curfew as protests continued to rage across the US, seeking justice following the controversial killing Floyd, an Africanamerican, in Minneapolis on May 25. Over 9,000 people have been arrested so far.
“I want justice for him because he was good, no matter what anybody thinks,” Roxie Washington, the mother of Floyd’s six-year-old daughter, told reporters at a press conference in Minneapolis on Tuesday, breaking down uncontrollably at times.
Meanwhile, US defence secretary Mark Esper on Wednesday sought to clarify his role over the use of US military reservists of the National Guard by the Trump administration to quell the violence accompanying the protests.
“I don’t support invoking the Insurrection Act,” Esper said in his first public comments, referring to a 200-year-old law that President Donald Trump has sought to invoke to deploy troops against the protesters.
In a break with Trump’s stance, Esper said, “The option to use active-duty forces in a law enforcement role should only be used as a matter of last resort and only in the most... dire of situations. We are not in one of those situations now.”
But on Tuesday, the Pentagon moved 1,600 more troops to Washington, DC. A spokesman said, “Active-duty elements are postured on military bases in the NCR, but are not in Washington, DC. They are on heightened alert status... and are not participating in defence support to civil authority operations.”
In Vatican City, Pope Francis called for reconciliation in the US, saying that while racism is intolerable, violence is “self-destructive, self-defeating”. Francis called Floyd’s death “tragic”.
Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau paused for 21 long seconds when he was asked to comment on Trump’s role in the unrest in the US. Trudeau did eventually speak on the matter, but avoided naming Trump in his response, instead focusing on race issues in his country.
American football player and Oklahoma State linebacker Amen Ogbongbemiga, 21, said that he has tested positive for Covid-19 after attending a protest in Tulsa, Oklahoma. It marks the first instance of a protester from the Floyd demonstrations to catch the deadly coronavirus.