Protests over police killing

CURFEWS IMPOSED: CLASHES OUTSIDE WHITE HOUSE

Cops discover caches of homemade fire-bombs around the two cities.

Washington

Police fired teargas outside the White House late on Sunday as antiracism protesters again took to the streets to voice fury at police brutality and major US cities were put under curfew to suppress rioting.

With the Trump administration branding instigators of six nights of rioting as domestic terrorists, there were more confrontations between protesters and police and fresh outbreaks of looting.

Violent clashes erupted repeatedly in a small park next to the White House, with authorities using teargas, pepper spray and flash bang grenades to disperse crowds who lit several large fires and damaged property.

Local US leaders appealed to citizens to give constructive outlet to their rage over the death of an unarmed black man in Minneapolis, while night-time curfews were imposed in cities including Washington, Los Angeles and Houston.

One closely watched protest was outside the state capitol in Minneapolis’ twin city of St Paul, where several thousand people gathered before marching down a highway.

“We have black sons, black brothers, black friends, we don’t want them to die. We are tired of this happening, this generation is not having it, we are tired of oppression,” said Muna Abdi, who joined the protest.

Hundreds of police and National Guard troops were deployed ahead of the protest. At one point, some of the protesters who had reached a bridge were forced to scramble for cover when a truck drove at speed after having apparently breached a barricade.

The driver was taken to hospital after the protesters hauled him from the vehicle, although there were no immediate reports of other casualties.

The New York Times said he was later arrested. Minneapolis police later reported they had discovered caches of homemade fire-bombs around the two cities.

There were other large-scale protests on Sunday night, including in New York and Miami.

Washington’s mayor ordered a curfew from 11pm until 6am, as a report in the New York Times said that President Donald Trump had been rushed by Secret Service agents into an underground bunker at the White House on Friday night during an earlier protest.

– AFP

We have black sons, we don’t want them to die