ANTI-RACISM PROTESTERS AT WHITE HOUSE DOOR
FLOYD’S KILLING Protesters scuffle with police in numerous cities across the country; more than 4,400 arrested
Protesters rally at the White House against the death in Minneapolis Police custody of George Floyd, in Washington DC on Sunday.
NEW YORK/ WASHINGTON: After six straight days of unrest, America headed into a new work week on Monday with neighbourhoods in shambles, urban streets on lockdown and political leaders struggling to control the coast-to-coast outpouring of rage over police killings of black people.
Despite curfews in big cities across the US and the deployment of thousands of National Guard soldiers over the past week, demonstrations descended into violence again on Sunday.
Protesters hurled rocks and Molotov cocktails at police in Philadelphia, set a fire near the White House and were hit with tear gas and pepper spray in Austin, Texas, and other cities. Seven Boston police officers had to be hospitalised.
Police officers and National Guard soldiers enforcing a curfew in Louisville, Kentucky, killed a man early Monday when they returned fire after someone in a large group shot at them first, police said. In Indianapolis, two people were reported dead in bursts of downtown violence over the weekend, adding to deaths recorded in Detroit and Minneapolis.
In some cities, thieves smashed their way into stores and ran off with as much as they could carry, leaving shop owners, many of them just beginning to reopen their businesses after the coronavirus shutdowns, to clean up their shattered stores.
In other places, police tried to calm tensions by kneeling in solidarity with demonstrators.
The demonstrations were sparked by the death of George Floyd, a handcuffed black man who pleaded for air as a white Minneapolis police officer pressed his knee against Floyd’s neck for several minutes.
Racial tensions were also running high after two white men were arrested in May in the February shooting death of black jogger Ahmaud Arbery in Georgia, and after Louisville, Kentucky, police shot Breonna Taylor to death in her home in March.
At least 4,400 people have been arrested for such offences as stealing, blocking highways and breaking curfew, according to a count compiled by AP.
“They keep killing our people. I’m so sick and tired of it,” said Mahira Louis, 15, who was at a Boston protest with her mother Sunday, leading chants of “George Floyd, say his name!”
Former US vice-president Joe Biden, the Democratic presidential candidate, visited the site of protests in his hometown of Wilmington, Delaware, and talked to demonstrators.
In New York, thieves raided luxury stores, including Chanel, Rolex and Prada boutiques. In Birmingham, Alabama, a Confederate statute was toppled.
In Minneapolis, the officer who pinned Floyd to the pavement has been charged with murder, but protesters are demanding the three other officers at the scene be prosecuted.