TRUMP CALLS FOR MILITARY RESPONSE
PRESIDENT THREATENS TO SEND IN ARMY AS PROTESTS FLARE ACROSS UNITED STATES
Police fired tear gas and rubber bullets to disperse peaceful demonstrators near the White House on Monday as U.S. President Donald Trump vowed a massive show of force to end heated protests over the death of a black man in police custody.
As Trump spoke, blasts from stun grenades could be heard as police on horseback pushed protesters further away from Lafayette Square, a park across from the White House.
“Mayors and governors must establish an overwhelming law enforcement presence until the violence has been quelled,” Trump said in the Rose Garden. “If a city or state refuses to take the actions that are necessary to defend the life and property of their residents, then
I will deploy the United States military and quickly solve the problem for them.”
After his brief remarks, Trump walked out of the White House — surrounded by dozens of security personnel — across the square, to St. John’s Episcopal Church, which was damaged by fire amid protests on Sunday night.
He stopped in front of boarded-up windows at the yellow church, where many presidents have attended services, along with several members of his administration, including Attorney General William Barr, National Security Adviser Robert O’brien and his daughter and her husband.
As an acrid smell still hung in the air, Trump held up a Bible for cameras before walking back to the White House, but took no questions from reporters.
The president said in his White House remarks that he was mobilizing all civilian and military resources “to stop the rioting and looting, to end the destruction and arson and to protect the rights of law-abiding Americans, including your Second Amendment rights” — a reference to the U.S. constitutional protections for gun ownership.
“We cannot allow the righteous cries of peaceful protesters to be drowned out by an angry mob,” Trump said, adding that the nation was gripped by “professional anarchists.”
A SECOND AUTOPSY FOUND THAT HIS DEATH WAS A HOMICIDE BY ‘MECHANICAL ASPHYXIATION,’ OR PHYSICAL
FORCE.
Anti-police brutality marches and rallies, which have turned violent after dark each night over the last week, erupted over the death of George Floyd, a 46-year-old black man who died in Minneapolis police custody after being pinned beneath a white officer’s knee for nearly nine minutes.
A second autopsy ordered by Floyd’s family and released on Monday found that his death was a homicide by “mechanical asphyxiation,” meaning some physical force interfered with his oxygen supply. The report says three officers contributed to Floyd’s death.
The Hennepin County Medical Examiner on Monday released details of its autopsy findings that also said Floyd’s death was a homicide caused by asphyxiation. The county report added that Floyd suffered cardiopulmonary arrest while being restrained by police and that he had arteriosclerotic and hypertensive heart disease, fentanyl intoxication and recent methamphetamine use.
The new findings emerged after Trump spoke to the governors earlier in the day.
“You have to dominate,” he told them in a private call leaked to the media. “If you don’t dominate, you’re wasting your time — they’re going to run over you, you’re going to look like a bunch of jerks.”
Dozens of cities across the United States remain under curfews at levels not seen since riots that broke out following the 1968 assassination of Martin Luther King Jr. The National Guard deployed in 23 states and Washington, D.C.
One person was killed in Louisville, Ky., Sunday night when police and National Guard troops opened fire while trying to disperse a crowd. Police in Chicago fielded some 10,000 calls for looting, Mayor Lori Lightfoot said.
The unrest, which erupted as the country was easing sweeping lockdowns to stop the spread of the coronavirus, began with peaceful protests over Floyd’s death.
Derek Chauvin, a since-fired 44-yearold officer, has been arrested and charged with third-degree murder and second-degree manslaughter.
On Monday, dozens of people paid their respects to Floyd outside Cup Foods, the scene of his death. Visitors left flowers and signs honouring Floyd. A little girl wrote, “I’ll fight with you,” in aqua blue chalk in the road.
Terrence Floyd, the victim’s brother, told the gathering he wanted people to get educated, vote and not destroy their own communities. “Let’s do this another way,” he said.
The U.S. Justice Department has directed the Bureau of Prisons to send riot-control teams to Miami and Washington, D.C., to help manage the protests, a department official told reporters.
Department investigators are interviewing people arrested during protests who might face federal charges for such offences as crossing state lines to incite violence, the official said.
Trump has condemned the killing of Floyd and promised justice but has described protesters as “thugs.”
Critics accuse the Republican president, who is seeking re-election in November, of stoking conflict and racial tension when he should be uniting the nation and addressing underlying issues.
Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden met with black community leaders in a church and said he would create a police oversight board within his first 100 days in the White House if elected.