CORRECTS CITY TO ST. PAUL NOT MINNEAPOLIS – National Guard soldiers and Minnesota state police form a barricade as protesters gather outside the Minnesota State Capitol, Sunday, May 31, 2020, in St. Paul, Minn. Protests continued following the death of George Floyd who died after being restrained by Minneapolis police officers on May 25. (AP Photo/John Minchillo)
MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — Protests formed across America again Sunday, even as glass and graffiti from the previous night’s unrest were still being cleaned up, with some violence and crime flaring in pockets of largely peaceful demonstrations fueled by the killings of black people at the hands of police.
From Boston to San Francisco, protesters took to the streets once more, and some signs of trouble emerged in cities that have closed streets and imposed curfews after days of turmoil. People robbed stores in broad daylight in Philadelphia and Santa Monica, California, and a semitruck drove into a massive crowd of people that took over a portion of a highway in Minneapolis.
It’s unclear if there were injuries. Protesters crawled on the truck, and police came in force to clear the highway in the city where the turbulence emerged after the death last week of George Floyd — a black man who pleaded that he couldn’t breathe after a white Minneapolis police officer pressed a knee into his neck for several minutes. The protests quickly became national, spreading to dozens of cities large and small.
The officer who pressed his knee onto Floyd’s neck has been arrested and charged with murder, but protesters are demanding charges against all four officers at the scene. All four were fired. In neighboring St. Paul, thousands gathered peacefully in front of the state Capitol, pledging to keep up the protests. “We’re Minnesota nice, but we’re not Minnesota dumb, and we’re not done,” St. Paul Black Lives Matter organizer Darnella Wade said. “They sent us the military and we only asked them for arrests.”
Minnesota’s governor brought in thousands of National Guard soldiers to help quell violence that had damaged or destroyed hundreds of buildings in Minneapolis over days of protests. The immense deployment appeared to have worked Saturday night, when there was comparatively little destruction. On Sunday, in a display of force, long lines of state patrolmen and National Guard soldiers were lined up in front of the Capitol, facing the demonstrators, with perhaps a dozen military-style armored vehicles behind them.
Across America, demonstrators called again for an end to police violence. “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. Many also joined police in pleading for a stop to violence, saying it weakened calls for justice and reform. “It only hurts the cause,” said Danielle Outlaw, head of the police force in Philadelphia, where more than 200 people were arrested as fires and looting engulfed the heart of the city.
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.
The droves of people congregating for demonstrations threatened to trigger new outbreaks, a fact overshadowed by the boiling tensions. “Maybe this country will get the memo that we are sick of police murdering unarmed black men,” said Lex Scott, founder of Black Lives Matter Utah. “Maybe the next time a white police officer decides to pull the trigger, he will picture cities burning.”
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. Curfews were imposed in major cities around the U.S., including 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.
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, Missouri, set off unrest in 2014.
“I understand what this family is feeling. I understand what this community is feeling,” he said. County Commissioner Angela Conley said the demonstrations and confrontations with police would continue until the other three officers who were at the scene when Floyd was pinned down are arrested and prosecuted. The officer who held his knee on Floyd’s neck, Derek Chauvin, was charged last week with murder. All four officers have been fired. “We’ll continue to have this militarized presence in our community until justice is done,” Conley said. In tweets Sunday, President Donald Trump blamed anarchists and the media for fueling the violence. Attorney General William Barr pointed a finger at “far left extremist” groups. Police chiefs and politicians accused outsiders of coming in and causing the problems.
The fury also spread to Europe, where thousands gathered in London’s Trafalgar Square, clapping and waving placards despite government rules barring crowds because of the COVID-19 pandemic. In Indianapolis, two people were reported dead in bursts of downtown violence, adding to deaths reported in Detroit and Minneapolis in recent days. Buildings around the U.S. were defaced with spray-painted messages, from the facade of St. Patrick’s Cathedral in New York to the historic Hay-Adams hotel near the White House. Some of Floyd’s gasped last words — “I can’t breathe” — were repeated, alongside anti-police messages.
Crews near the White House worked to replace windows that had been shattered with large pieces of wood. Buildings for blocks were marked with graffiti, including curses about Trump. Shattered glass still covered the sidewalks. The damaged buildings included the Department of Veterans Affairs, directly across the street from the White House.
Source: Associated Press Sedensky reported from Philadelphia. Associated Press journalists across the U.S. contributed to this report.