Rallies across U.S. call for end to police violence, draw support from abroad
MINNEAPOLIS — Protesters took to the streets across America again Sunday, with violence flaring in pockets of largely peaceful demonstrations fueled by the killings of black people at the hands of police. A truck driver — apparently deliberately — drove into demonstrators in Minneapolis nearly a week after former Houston resident George Floyd died there after pleading for air as an officer pressed a knee into his neck.
The Minnesota State Patrol tweeted that the driver was apparently trying to provoke protesters and was arrested. The officer who pressed his knee onto Floyd’s neck for several minutes has been charged with murder, but protesters demand the other three officers at the scene be prosecuted. All four were fired.
Minn. Gov. Tim Walz announced Sunday that the state attorney general, Keith Ellison, will take the lead in any prosecutions in
the death of George Floyd. Hennepin County Attorney Mike Freeman earlier Sunday said he had asked Ellison to help in the prosecution. Freeman has been criticized by civil rights activists and some city officials, who say there is a history of mistrust between Freeman’s office and members of the community.
For a second day, the protests reached the White House, where chants could be heard from around 1,000 demonstrators just across the street in Lafayette Park as they faced police in riot gear behind barricades.
Across America, demonstrators called again for an end to police violence. The scale of the protests, sweeping from coast to coast and unfolding on a single night, rivaled the historic demonstrations of the civil rights and Vietnam War eras.
“They keep killing our people,” said Mahira Louis, 15, who marched with her mother and several hundred others through downtown Boston. “I’m so sick and tired of it.”
Disgust over generations of racism in a country founded by slaveholders combined with a string of recent racially charged killings to stoke the anger. Adding to that was angst from months of lockdowns brought on by the coronavirus pandemic, which has disproportionately hurt communities of color, not only in terms of infections but in job losses and economic stress.
Overseas rallies
In Europe, thousands gathered in central London to offer support for American demonstrators. Chanting “No justice! No peace!” and waving placards with the words “How many more?” at Trafalgar Square, the protesters ignored U.K. government rules banning crowds because of the pandemic. Police didn’t stop them.
Demonstrators then marched to the U.S. Embassy, where a long line of officers surrounded the building. Protesters in Denmark also converged on the U.S. Embassy on Sunday.
The U.S. Embassy in Berlin was the scene of protests on Saturday under the motto: “Justice for George Floyd.” Several hundred more people took to the streets Sunday in the capital’s Kreuzberg area, carrying signs with slogans such as “Silence is Violence,” “Hold Cops Accountable” and “Who Do You Call When Police Murder?” No incidents were reported.
Curfews were imposed in major cities around the U.S., including San Antonio, Atlanta, Chicago, Denver, Los Angeles, San Francisco and Seattle. About 5,000 National Guard soldiers and airmen were activated in 15 states and Washington, D.C.
But still trouble flared. There was looting on both ends of California, with video in San Jose showing several people in hoods and masks fleeing a Macy’s department store with large bags, while people in Long Beach carried away armloads of clothing and other goods from the smashed windows of stores at a shopping mall after curfew. As police moved in to try to restore order, some protesters ran in to confront the thieves and condemn them for undercutting the message of the demonstration.
In tweets Sunday, President Donald Trump blamed anarchists and the media for fueling violence, and threatened again to name antifa a terrorist organization. Short for anti-fascists, antifa is an umbrella term for far-leftleaning militant groups that resist neo-Nazis and white supremacists at demonstrations.
Attorney General William Barr vowed that federal prosecutors across the country would use federal riot statutes to charge protesters who cross state lines to participate in violent rioting.
A Justice Department spokesperson said the attorney general’s assertion was based on information provided from state and local law enforcement agencies but did not detail what that information entailed.
Meanwhile, experts who track extremist groups also reported seeing evidence of the far-right at work. Investigators were tracking online interference and looking into whether foreign agents were behind the effort. Officials have seen a surge of social media accounts with fewer than 200 followers created in the last month, a textbook sign of a disinformation effort.
Minnesota’s governor said Sunday that state authorities were hit with a cyberattack as law enforcement prepared to diffuse protests in Minneapolis and St. Paul. He described it as a “very sophisticated denial of service attack on all computers.”
Out-of-town protesters?
While the motives behind the violence over the past few days were unclear, there was firmer evidence that some of the protesters were coming to the demonstrations from outside the urban centers that have been the epicenter of the rallies.
In Detroit, 37 of the 60 people who were arrested in overnight protests did not live in the city — and many came from nearby suburbs, police Chief James Craig said Saturday. Although Detroit is about 80 percent black, many of those arrested were white.
“I think about a third of the people are from out of town here to make the city burn,” said Justin Terrell, executive director of the Council for Minnesotans of African Heritage. “It is just putting black people in a crossfire not just between fascists and anarchists — but putting us in a crossfire with the National Guard.”
Trump was expected in the coming days to draw distinctions between the legitimate anger of peaceful protesters and the unacceptable actions of violent agitators, said a White House official who was not authorized to discuss the plans ahead of time and spoke on condition of anonymity.
At the Minneapolis intersection where Floyd was killed, people gathered with brooms and flowers, saying it was important to protect what they called a “sacred space.” The intersection was blocked with the traffic cones while a ring of flowers was laid out.
Among those descending on Minneapolis was Michael Brown Sr., the father of Michael Brown, whose killing by a police officer in Ferguson, Mo., set off unrest in 2014.
“I understand what this family is feeling. I understand what this community is feeling,” he said.