Protests crop up on eve of Floyd trial
On the eve of the criminal trial for Derek Chauvin, the former police officer accused of killing George Floyd and sparking global racial protests, Minneapolis was a city on edge.
A Sunday afternoon march drew a few thousand people to the Hennepin County Government Center, which these days is encircled by concrete barriers and layers of security fencing. Prince’s “Purple Rain” blared over loudspeakers there, but as the crowd began walking, they did so in silence. They carried a white wooden coffin. Helicopters buzzed overhead.
By then, National Guard vehicles were already rolling into the Twin Cities area, the first of more than 3,000 National Guard troops expected to be on patrol during what some are calling the biggest trial in Minnesota history.
Mr. Chauvin faces charges of second-degree murder and second-degree manslaughter, as well as a possible third-degree murder charge in connection with the May 25 arrest that ended with Floyd’s death. Mr. Chauvin, who is white, was recorded as he knelt on the neck of Floyd, who was Black, for more than nine minutes, allegedly asphyxiating him.
Three former officers with Mr. Chauvin during the arrest — Alexander Kueng, Thomas Lane and Tou Thao — are expected to be tried in late summer. Social distancing and other logistical constraints forced in the courtroom by the coronavirus pandemic are why the four are not being tried together.
Myanmar crisis worsens following police raids
Myanmar careened deeper into crisis, as police occupied hospitals and universities and arrested hundreds of people involved in protesting last month’s military seizure of power, while a coalition of labor unions called a strike for Monday.
Tension was high Sunday in the country’s biggest city, Yangon, where for a second night running gunshots from heavy weapons rang out randomly in the streets of several neighborhoods after the start of an 8 p.m. curfew. The sounds of what apparently were stun grenades could also be heard on videos posted on social media.
The purpose for security forces using such weapons when protesters had left the streets appeared to be part of a strategy to strike fear in anyone who might think about defying the authorities. In a similar vein, there were many filmed incidents of police and soldiers in plain view savagely beating protesters they had taken into custody.
Some of the shooting was heard near hospitals, where reports said neighborhood residents sought to block the entry of police and soldiers.
U.S., South Korea agree on new deal
The United States and South Korea have reached agreement in principle on a new arrangement for sharing the cost of the American troop presence, which is intended as a bulwark against the threat of North Korean aggression.
The State Department’s Bureau of Political-Military Affairs said the deal includes a “negotiated increase” in Seoul’s share of the cost, but it provided no details. The Bureau wrote on Twitter that the agreement, if finalized, would reaffirm the U.S.South Korean treaty alliance as “the linchpin of peace, security and prosperity for Northeast Asia.”
The negotiations had broken down during the Trump administration over a U.S. demand that Seoul pay five times what it previously had paid. The State Department said in a statement that the increase in the South’s share of the cost was “meaningful.”