US cities erupt in more violence as Trump decries `lowlifes'
WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump on Tuesday turned up the pressure on governors to quell the violence set off by the death of George Floyd, demanding New York call up the National Guard to stop the “lowlifes and losers.”
As more demonstrations began taking shape around the country, and cities girded for another round of scattered violence after dark, the president amplified his hard-line calls of a day earlier, in which he threatened to send in the military to restore order if governors didn't do it.
“NYC, CALL UP THE NATIONAL GUARD ,” he tweeted. “The lowlifes and losers are ripping you apart. Act fast! Don't make the same horrible and deadly mistake you made with the Nursing Homes!!!”
A day after a crackdown on peaceful protesters near the White House, some demonstrators began protesting in other parts of the nation's capital. Hundreds of people gathered along 14th Street, one of the city's main arteries, and many in the crowd began walking toward the White House, which had tightened security in place.
Protests were also held in such places as Houston, St. Paul, Minnesota, and Orlando, Florida, where more than 1,000 people gathered in the afternoon to decry the killings of black people.
“This has to change,” said 39-year-old Aisxia Batiste, an out-of-work massage therapist. “Something has to give. We're done. This is the beginning of the end of something. It has to be.”
In New York, midtown Manhattan was pocked with battered storefronts. Macy's flagship store was among those hit after crowds of people smashed windows and looted stores Monday as they swept through the area. A police sergeant was hospitalized after being hit by a car in the Bronx, where people walked Tuesday between ransacked buildings and a burned-out car on the Grand Concourse, a commercial thoroughfare.
Police made nearly 700 arrests, Mayor Bill de Blasio extended an 8 p.m. curfew all week.
“We're going to have a tough few days,” he warned, but added: “We're going to beat it back.” He pleaded with community leaders to step forward and “create peace.”
More than 20,000 National Guard members have been called up in 29 states to deal with the violence. New York is not among them, and De Blasio has said he does not want the Guard. On Tuesday, Democratic Gov. Andrew Cuomo called what happened in the city “a disgrace.”
“The NYPD and the mayor did not do their job last night,” Cuomo said said at a briefing in Albany.
He said the mayor underestimated the problem, and the nation's largest police force was not deployed in sufficient numbers, though the city had
said it doubled the usual police presence.
Monday marked the seventh straight night of unrest around the country.
In Atlanta, police fired tear gas at demonstrators. In Nashville, more than 60 National Guard members put down their riot shields at the request of peaceful protesters. At a demonstration in Buffalo, New York, an SUV plowed into a group of officers, injuring three.
An officer was shot and gravely wounded as police tried to disperse a crowd outside a Las Vegas hotel and casino. Four officers were shot in St. Louis; they were expected to recover.
Philadelphia officials described a chaotic night in which one person was killed trying to use explosives to open an ATM, a gun shop owner fatally shot a would-be thief, and a 19-year-old died of injuries during looting.
About a dozen other deaths have been reported around the country over the past week. And nearly 8,000 people nationwide have been arrested for offenses such as stealing, blocking highways and breaking curfew, according to a count by The Associated Press.