US President Donald Trump was yesterday scheduled to meet with his top law enforcement officer behind closed doors as cities nationwide awoke from a smoldering weekend of violent protests over race and policing in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Chaotic demonstrations from Washington to Los Angeles swelled from peaceful protests — sparked by the death on Monday last week of a black man, George Floyd, while in police custody in Minneapolis, Minnesota — into scenes of violence that drew US National Guard troops in at least 15 states and Washington.
Dozens of cities across the US faced curfews at a level not seen since the riots following the 1968 assassination of Martin Luther King Jr, as fires burned near the White House and stores were looted in New York City and other major cities.
Photo: Reuters
Floyd’s death is the latest in a string of similar incidents involving unarmed black men and women in recent years, which have raised an outcry over excessive police force and racism, and re-ignited outrage across a politically and racially divided country just months before the Nov. 3 presidential election.
Video footage showed a white Minneapolis police officer kneeling on the neck of Floyd, 46, for nearly nine minutes before he died.
Trump has made no major public statement to address the crisis, but has issued a flurry of tweets, describing protesters as “thugs” and urging mayors and governors to “get tough.”
Photo: AP
He has also threatened to utilize the US military, but his national security adviser on Sunday said that the administration would not yet invoke federal control over the National Guard.
Trump was yesterday scheduled to hold a call with governors, as well as law enforcement and national security officials, after his Oval Office meeting with US Attorney General Bill Barr.
Critics have accused Trump, who is seeking re-election, of further stoking conflict and racial tension, rather than seeking to bring the nation together and address the underlying issues.
Photo: AFP
Washington and other cities had been set to restart some normal economic activity over the weekend after more than two months of stay-at-home orders aimed at stemming the novel coronavirus outbreak, which has killed more than 106,000 people nationwide and plunged more than 40 million people into joblessness.
Many states had already activated their National Guard troops to help manage the pandemic, further straining local budgets with no immediate sign of relief from the US Congress as many weary Americans, particularly in urban areas, remain sheltered.
The demonstrations brought out a diversity of people in Boston, Chicago, Philadelphia and Portland, Oregon, among other cities.
Photo: AFP
Hundreds of store fronts were smashed and buildings vandalized in multiple US cities as protesters and police clashed.
However, the mayor of St Paul, Minnesota, which is adjacent to Minneapolis, yesterday told CNN that thousands had gathered there peacefully on Sunday. Other cities also saw more peaceful demonstrations, sometimes with police support.
The arrest of former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin, who was charged with third-degree murder in Floyd’s case, has not quelled the demonstrations amid calls for the other three officers involved to also be charged.
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