Racism fury brings fire and rioting to America’s streets
IN CITIES in every corner of America, from Philadelphia in the East to San Francisco in the West, anger at racism and police brutality spilt out onto the streets on Saturday night, at times leading to ugly confrontations.
In Los Angeles, protesters torched a police car and smashed shop windows. In Minneapolis officers struggling to enforce a curfew fired rubber bullets.
Near the White House, police kept the crowds back with pepper spray as smoke rose above the nation’s capitals.
While in some places the protests were peaceful, in others they gave way to looting and rioting. One historian said such a spasm of protests had not been seen in the country since after Martin Luther King’s assassination in 1968.
Throughout the night, footage of protesters gagging on tear gas and members of the National Guard forming defensive lines with shields and helmets played out on cable news channels as debate turned once again to racial tension in America. The trigger had been the death of George Floyd, a black American, in police custody. Gruesome footage eight minutes long had shown a white police officer called Derek Chauvin pinning Mr Floyd to the ground with a knee on his neck as he said “I can’t breathe”.
But on Saturday night, the fifth and biggest night of protests, the demonstrations appeared to have widened into a cry of anguish at racial inequality in the US, against a backdrop of the coronavirus pandemic which has put 40 million Americans out of work.
Protests have been seen in at least 75 US cities. More than 1,400 people have been arrested. At least 25 cities announced curfews on Saturday night, ordering millions to stay off the streets after dark. Gunfire was heard during some demonstrations.
Yesterday the protests spread internationally in spite of the coronavirus pandemic, with thousands of people marching through central London. Berlin and Toronto also saw demonstrations.
President Donald Trump chose not to address the nation on camera yesterday morning despite the widespread chaotic scenes, instead sending tweets and continuing his mixed messages about what was being seen. Last week he called protesters “thugs” and warned that “vicious dogs” would be waiting in the White House if they scaled the fences, but he also said some protesting were “good people” trying to honour Mr Floyd.
Yesterday he escalated his claims that some in the crowds were members of the loose confederation of far-left groups known as “Antifa”, vowing to designate it a terrorist organisation – though it was unclear how it could be implemented and whether Congress could or would block any such move.
At least 10 states brought in the National Guard to help enforce the law on Saturday night, in a sign of how seriously the protests were being treated, including California, Georgia, Minnesota, Tennessee, Ohio, Washington and Utah.
In Minneapolis, the city where Mr Floyd died, a second night of curfew was ignored. The arrest of Mr Chauvin on Friday, charged with third degree murder, appears to have done little to calm tensions.
As the city fell under a second night of curfew at 7.57pm, alerts were sent to the phones of every person in the city, warning them to “go home”. But a few hundred protesters avoided the order to continue the demonstration.
Arm-in-arm, they moved towards a bridge leading to the state capitol building in neighbouring St Paul.
Meanwhile a group of police officers fired tear gas to disperse groups as they moved towards the police’s 5th precinct, which was targeted on Friday night. Officers marched down streets to enforce the curfew, yelling at by
standers to “get inside” as they watched the action unfold from their front porches. Those that did not comply were immediately fired at with rubber bullets.
The state’s governor, Tim Walz, had activated the Minnesota national guard but declined the US army’s offer to deploy military police in the city.
Earlier, the frustration that has torn through the city was still on show.
One woman walked along E Lake Street, the scene of the worst destruction, yelled: “Why do we do this? Who is going to help us?” In Washington DC, hundreds of protesters gathered near the White House for the second night in a row, periodically clashing with police and lighting fires.
They chanted “f--- the police”, “no justice, no peace” and “f--- Trump”.
When a scuffle with officers broke out they often raised their arms and chanted “hands up, don’t shoot.”
More than 100 police officers were present, some with shields and helmets, some mounted on horses and some carrying what appeared to be weapons that fired pepper spray balls.
Later in the night, protesters set fire to a car. Small groups began looting, smashing the windows of a café and an Apple store as pockets of violence broke out after midnight.
In downtown Los Angeles, a demonstration of more than 5,000 people – one of the largest seen in the country – was held. Again violent clashes were seen. Police fired tear gas at a mob which was pelting them with debris. Several vehicles, including at least three police cars, were set alight.
Melina Abdullah, the Black Lives Matter-la co-founder, said: “The violence is justified. We have to fix this.”
Yesterday, London joined the protests. Demonstrators chanted Mr Floyd’s name as they walked from Trafalgar Square to the US Embassy and back to Downing Street. They carried banners bearing the messages: “White silence = complicity to racism” and “Stop killing black people”.
Yanet Beyene, 17, from south London told The Telegraph: “The UK isn’t innocent. They try and make out that the UK is innocent. Stop and search is a big problem, black boys are getting abused by police.”
Jadon Sancho, the English footballer who plays in Germany, revealed a “Justice for George Floyd” shirt after scoring a goal yesterday – a sign of sentiment among some Britons towards what is happening in the US.
US political figures offered differing interpretations of what was playing out. Some said “outsiders” were coming into cities and riling up tensions. Others blamed far-left agitators.
Joe Biden, the likely Democratic nominee for November’s presidential elections, spoke to both views. “Protesting such brutality is right and necessary. It’s an utterly American response,” he said. “But burning down communities and needless destruction is not. Vio- lence that endangers lives is not.”