Washington, United States:
Police fired tear gas outside the White House on Sunday evening as major US cities were subjected to a curfew to quell riots as anti-racism protesters again took to the streets to express their anger at police brutality.
With the Trump administration calling the instigators of six nights of riots a national terrorist, there have been more confrontations between protesters and police and new outbreaks of looting.
Violent clashes erupted repeatedly in a small park next to the White House, with authorities using tear gas, pepper spray and flash grenades to disperse crowds that started several large fires and damaged property.
Local American leaders have called on citizens to express their anger constructively over the death of an unarmed black man in Minneapolis, while night curfews have been imposed in cities like Washington, Los Angeles and Houston.
A closely watched protest took place outside the state capital in the twin city of Minneapolis, St. Paul, where several thousand people gathered before hitting a freeway.
“We have black sons, black brothers, black friends, we don’t want them to die. We are tired of what is going on, this generation does not have it, we are tired of oppression”, said Muna Abdi, 31. -old black woman who joined the demonstration.
“I want to make sure he stays alive,” she added, referring to her three-year-old son.
Hundreds of police and National Guard soldiers were deployed before the demonstration.
At one point, some of the protesters who had reached a bridge were forced to take cover when a truck drove at high speed after apparently crossing a barricade.
The driver was then taken to hospital after the protesters pulled him from the vehicle, although there were no immediate reports of other victims.
There have been other large-scale protests in cities like New York and Miami.
The mayor of Washington has ordered a curfew from 11:00 p.m. to 6:00 a.m., as a New York Times report said that President Donald Trump was rushed by secret service agents into an underground bunker at the White House on Friday evening ‘a previous event.
Ransacked stores
Large-scale violence has rocked many US cities in recent days and looters ransacked stores in a neighborhood of Philadelphia on Sunday.
In the Los Angeles suburb of Santa Monica, looting was reported in stores at a popular beachfront mall.
Officials in LA – a city marked by the 1992 riots following police beatings of Rodney King, an African American man – imposed a 4:00 p.m. curfew Sunday until dawn.
“Please use your discretion and get there early, go home, stay home and help us get those who want to change this conversation to talk about racial justice to burn and loot things , are not winning the day, “city mayor Eric Garcetti told CNN.
The shocking videotaped death last Monday of an unarmed black man, George Floyd, at the hands of Minneapolis police sparked nationwide outrage at the repeated use of lethal force by law enforcement against unarmed African Americans.
Floyd stopped breathing after Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin knelt on the neck for nearly nine minutes.
Chauvin has been charged with third degree murder and is scheduled to appear in court on Monday. Three other officers with him have been dismissed, but so far they are not charged.
Governor Tim Walz has mobilized all of the Minnesota National Guard troops – the largest State Guard mobilization to date – to help restore order.
Police fired tear gas and stun grenades to clean the streets of Saturday night curfew violators in Minneapolis.
Walz extended the curfew for a third night on Sunday and praised police and guards for stopping the violence. “They did it professionally. They did it without a single loss of life and minimal damage to property,” he said.
“Congratulations to our National Guard for the excellent work it did upon arriving in Minneapolis, Minnesota yesterday,” President Donald Trump tweeted, adding that they “should be used in other states before it’s not too late! “
The Defense Ministry said that around 5,000 National Guard soldiers had been mobilized in 15 states as well as in the capital Washington, with another 2,000 waiting.
Widespread use of uniformed National Guard units is rare, and has brought to mind disturbing memories of the riots in American cities in 1967 and 1968 during an eventful period of protest against racial and economic disparities.
Trump blamed the far left for the violence, saying he plans to designate a group known as Antifa as a terrorist organization.
“The violence provoked and perpetrated by Antifa and other similar groups in connection with the riots is domestic terrorism and will be dealt with accordingly,” added Attorney General Bill Barr.
“A nation in distress”
Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms said Trump, who often urged police to use harsh tactics, didn’t help matters.
“We are beyond a tipping point in this country, and its rhetoric only ignites it,” she said on CBS.
Joe Biden, presumably Trump’s democratic opponent in the November presidential election, visited the scene of an anti-racism demonstration.
“We are a nation in pain right now, but we must not let this pain destroy us,” Biden tweeted, posting a photo of him speaking with an African-American family at the site where protesters gathered Saturday night in Delaware.
Floyd’s death sparked protests outside the United States, with hundreds of protesters standing outside the American embassy in London.
“I’m here because I’m tired, I’m sick of it. When does it stop?” Doreen Pierre told AFP during the protest.
In Germany, English football international Jadon Sancho scored one of his three goals for Borussia Dortmund against Paderborn by lifting his jersey to reveal a T-shirt marked “Justice for George Floyd”.
(With the exception of the title, this story was not edited by GalacticGaming staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
