George Floyd Killing
Protests over the death of George Floyd raged across US — with crowds breaking curfew in major cities on another night of fury and frustrations.
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US President Donald Trump has said he is willing to use the military if state leaders don’t get “tougher” on anti-police brutality protests. Renewed unrest across the US has prompted multiple cities to introduce curfews.
Several cities across the US, including Minneapolis, Atlanta and Washington, DC, saw further protests on Saturday night over the killing of George Floyd while in police custody.
Atlanta, Philadelphia and Los Angeles were among the cities to introduce curfews for residents from 8 p. m. on Saturday night.
Police charged protesters who broke curfew in Minneapolis. At least 13 officers in Philadelphia were injured when peaceful protests turned violent, and police in several cities used tear gas in attempts to quell protests.
At a protest in Tallahassee, Florida, a suspect drove a pickup truck through a crowd of protesters gathered at an intersection, hitting some of them. The driver was later arrested and no one was seriously injured, local officials said.
US presidential candidate Joe Biden on Sunday condemned the violence of race protests that have erupted across the country but said Americans had a right to demonstrate.
“Protesting such brutality is right and necessary. It’s an utterly American response,” the Democratic White House hopeful said in a statement. “But burning down communities and needless destruction is not. Violence that endangers lives is not. Violence that guts and shutters businesses that serve the community is not.”
Trump threatens military use
Earlier on Saturday, US President Donald Trump said that the federal government was considering using the military to intervene in the protests.
“We have our military ready, willing and able,” Trump told reporters before departing for Florida. “We can have our military there very quickly.”
On Twitter, Trump wrote the federal government will use “the unlimited power of our military” as well as carry out arrests.
The Pentagon said it was ready to provide military help to contain unrest in Minneapolis, the city where Floyd was killed. So far, the governor of Minnesota has not requested it.
Outrage over killing of a black George Floyd
George Floyd was an African-American man who was killed in police custody in Minneapolis after footage emerged of him in handcuffs pleading for air as a police officer kneeled on his neck. Derek Chauvin, one of the four police officers, was arrested and charged with murder Friday morning following three days of protests.
The protests began in Minneapolis after the footage of Floyd’s killing emerged earlier this week. Demonstrations later spread to other cities across the country.
Floyd’s death, one of the latest high-profile killings of an unarmed black person by police, have tapped into a well of anger over the treatment of the black community and other people of color in the US.
The protests are also coming amid the coronavirus pandemic which has seen tens of millions of people in US lose their jobs and which has disproportionately affected black people, highlighting discrepancies in health care treatment.