Cities call for National Guard’s help.
Clashes between police, protesters reported around country
ATLANTA – Protesters burned businesses in Minneapolis. They smashed police cars and windows in Atlanta, broke into police headquarters in Portland, Oregon, and chanted curses at President Donald Trump outside the White House. Thousands also demonstrated peacefully, demanding justice for George Floyd, a black man who died after a white officer pressed a knee into his neck.
As anger over Floyd’s killing spread nationwide, local leaders said they might need help from National Guardsmen or even military police.
Georgia’s governor declared a state of emergency early Saturday to activate the state National Guard as violence flared in Atlanta. Ted Wheeler, mayor of Portland, Oregon, also declared an emergency and ordered a nighttime curfew.
Some 500 Guard soldiers were mobilized in and around Minneapolis, where Floyd died and an officer faced charges Friday in his death. But after another night of watching fires burn and businesses ransacked, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz said early Saturday that he was moving to activate more than 1,000 more and was considering federal help.
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 U.S. Secret Service on Pennsylvania Avenue, and threw bottles and other objects at officers wearing riot gear, who responded with pepper spray.
“I just feel like he’s just one of many names that we’ve had to create hashtags and T-shirts and campaigns for and I feel like nothing has changed,” district resident Abe Neri said of Floyd. “And so that’s why I’m out here. Yeah, when you say nothing, you’re taking the side of the oppressor.”
Many protesters echoed that frustration, that Floyd’s death was one more in a litany. The anger that seized the nation comes in the wake of the killing in Georgia of Ahmaud Arbery, who was shot after being pursued by a white father and son while running in their neighborhood, and in the middle of the coronavirus pandemic that has thrown millions out of work, killed more than 100,000 Americans and disproportionately affected black people.
In scenes 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.”
Georgia Gov. 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.
Some demonstrators smashed police cars and spray-painted the iconic logo sign at CNN headquarters in downtown Atlanta. At least three officers were hurt and there were multiple arrests, Atlanta police spokesman Carlos Campos said, as protesters shot at officers with BB guns and threw bricks, bottles and knives.
“This is not in the spirit of Martin Luther King Jr.,” Bottoms said. “You are disgracing the life of George Floyd and every other person who has been killed in this country.”
Bottoms was flanked by King’s daughter, Bernice King, and rappers T.I. and Killer Mike.
“We have to be better than burning down our own homes. Because if we lose Atlanta what have we got?” said Killer Mike, crying as he spoke.
A person was killed in Detroit after someone in an SUV fired shots into a crowd of protesters near the Greektown entertainment district, police said. In Portland, protesters broke into police headquarters and lit a fire inside, authorities said. In Richmond, Virginia, a police cruiser was set on fire outside police headquarters, and a city transit spokeswoman said a bus set ablaze was “a total loss,” news outlets reported.
Video posted to social media showed New York City 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 body and set it aflame again as officers retreated. Blocks away, protesters used a club to batter another police vehicle. The police department said numerous officers were injured.
The names of black people killed by police, including Floyd and Eric Garner, who died on Staten Island in 2014, were on signs and in chants.
“Our country has a sickness. We have to be out here,” said Brianna Petrisko, among those at lower Manhattan’s Foley Square. “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 1,000 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.
Protesters clashed with police in San Jose, California, said Mayor Sam Liccardo, and police responded with flashbang grenades and rubber bullets. One officer was hospitalized with a non-lifethreatening injury.
Liccardo said his city’s officers shared the community’s outrage over Floyd’s death.
“It was a horrible injustice,” he said.