America erupts
Rioting and protests spread across dozens of US cities
Georgia’s governor declared a state of emergency yesterday to activate the state National Guard as violence flared in Atlanta and cities nationwide following the death in Minnesota of George Floyd after a white police officer pressed a knee into his neck while taking him into custody.
Another 500 Guard soldiers were mobilised in and around Minneapolis, where Floyd died. The officer faces a murder charge.
After another night of watching fires burn and businesses ransacked, Minnesota Governor Tim Walz said he was moving to activate more than 1000 more and was considering federal help.
The Pentagon is understood to have ordered the Army to put military police units on alert to head to Minneapolis on short notice at President Donald Trump’s request.
The Guard was also on standby in the District of Columbia, where a crowd grew outside the White House and chanted curses at Trump. Some protesters tried to push through barriers set up by the US Secret Service along Pennsylvania Avenue, and threw bottles and other objects at officers wearing riot gear, who responded with pepper spray.
A person was killed in downtown Detroit just before midnight after someone in an SUV fired shots into a crowd of protesters, police said. In Portland, Oregon, protesters broke into police headquarters and authorities said they lit a fire inside. They also lit fires throughout downtown and smashed shop windows. Police deployed tear gas in response.
In Virginia’s capital, a police cruiser was set on fire outside Richmond police headquarters, and a bus was set ablaze.
Georgia Governor Brian Kemp tweeted that up to 500 members of the Guard would deploy immediately ‘‘to protect people & property in Atlanta.’’ He said he acted at the request of Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms, who earlier appealed in vain for calm.
In scenes both peaceful and violent across the nation, thousands of protesters chanted ‘‘No justice, no peace’’ and ‘‘Say his name. George Floyd.’’ They hoisted signs reading: ‘‘He said I can’t breathe. Justice for George.’’
Police had arrested Floyd on Tuesday because he matched the description of a man suspected of passing a counterfeit $20 bill at a grocery store and that he resisted arrest.
Bystander video and photos of the arrest showed Floyd on the ground, while Officer Derek Chauvin kneels on his neck, ignoring his pleas for help. Two other officers appear to help hold him down, and a fourth attempts to keep space around the scene.
‘‘My stomach hurts, my neck hurts, everything hurts ... I can’t breathe,’’ said Floyd, who eventually becomes motionless.
The four officers were fired. Chauvin, 44, has been charged with third-degree murder and second-degree manslaughter.
However, Bottoms said the subsequent violence was ‘‘disgracing the life of George Floyd’’.
In downtown Atlanta, some demonstrators smashed police cars and spray-painted the iconic logo sign at CNN headquarters.
At least three officers were hurt and there were multiple arrests, Atlanta police spokesman Carlos Campos said, as protesters fired at officers with BB guns and threw bricks, bottles and knives.
In New York City, video posted to social media showed officers using batons and shoving protesters down as they took people into custody and cleared streets. One video showed an officer slam a woman to the ground as he walked past her in the street.
Demonstrators rocked a police van, set it ablaze, scrawled graffiti across its charred chassis and set it aflame again as officers retreated.
The police department said numerous officers were injured.
‘‘Our country has a sickness. We have to be out here,’’ said Brianna Petrisko, among those at lower Manhattan’s Foley Square, where most were wearing masks amid the coronavirus pandemic. ‘‘This is the only way we’re going to be heard.’’
Demonstrators on the West Coast blocked highways in Los Angeles and Oakland, California.
About 1000 protesters in Oakland smashed windows, sprayed buildings with ‘‘Kill Cops’’ graffiti and were met with chemical spray from police, who said several officers were injured by projectiles.
In California, police said that Santa Clara County sheriff’s deputies fired at a fleeing SUV that was shown on video striking protesters, the San Jose Mercury News reported.
And in Florida, protesters gathered in front of a home Chauvin has owned since 2011 with his wife, Kellie, a Laotian refugee, realtor and former Mrs Minnesota pageant winner. It has been reported that Kellie Chauvin has filed for divorce.