Violence engulfs America for sixth day

Thousands of protesters arrested and nearly 40 cities under curfew

The US remained a tinderbox of anger and emotion as violent protests erupted for a sixth day across the country over the custodial killing of African-American George Floyd, resulting in the death of at least five people, the arrest of thousands and placing of curfew in nearly 40 cities.

Considered to be the worst ever civil unrest in the US in decades, the violent protests have engulfed at least 140 cities across America in the days following the death of Floyd, a 46year-old man who was pinned to the ground in Minneapolis on Monday by a white police officer who kneeled on his neck as he gasped for breath.

Some of the protests have turned violent, prompting the activation of the National Guard in at least 20 states.

"At least five people were killed in violence that flared as demonstrations in parts of the country devolved into mayhem," The Washington Post reported.

Police have arrested at least 2,564 people in two dozen US cities over the weekend. Nearly a fifth of those arrests were in Los Angeles, said.

The unrest initially began in Minneapolis in Minnesota but has now spread across the country, with reports of violence coming in from across major cities including Los Angeles, Chicago, New York, Houston, Philadelphia and Washington DC. In Birmingham, protesters started to tear down a Confederate monument that the city had previously covered with a tarp amid a lawsuit between the state attorney general and the city.

In Boston, a police SUV was set ablaze near the State House, sending up a column of black smoke after a large group of protesters had mostly dispersed.

In Philadelphia, police officers in riot gear and an armoured vehicle used pepper spray to try to repel rioters and looters.

Meanwhile, US President Donald Trump has said that America will designate far-left extremist group Antifa as a terrorist organisation in view of its role in violence across the country after the killing of a black man by a white police officer in Minnesota.

Antifa, regarded as a militant, left-wing, anti-fascist political activist movement in the US, comprises autonomous activist groups that aim to achieve their political objectives through the use of direct action rather than through policy reforms.