By Reuters in Minneapolis
COURTSEY: THE TELEGRAPH
The full
Minnesota National Guard was activated for the first time since World War II
after four nights of sometimes violent protests that have spread to other US
cities following the killing of a black man by a white Minneapolis police
officer who knelt on his neck.
Minnesota governor Tim Walz said the deployment
was needed because outsiders were using the demonstrations over the death of
George Floyd to spread chaos.
From Minneapolis to New York City, Atlanta and
Washington, protesters clashed with police late on Friday in a rising tide of
anger over the treatment of minorities by law enforcement.
“We are under assault,” Walz told a briefing.
“Order needs to be restored.... We will use our full strength of goodness and
righteousness to make sure this ends.”
He said he believed a “tightly controlled” group
of outside agitators, some white supremacist groups and drug cartels were to
blame for some of the violence in Minneapolis, but he did not give specifics
when asked by reporters. He said as many as 80 per cent of those arrested were
from out-of-state.
The demonstrations broke out for a fourth night
despite prosecutors announcing on Friday that the policeman filmed kneeling on
Floyd’s neck, Derek Chauvin, had been arrested on third-degree murder and
manslaughter charges.
Three other officers have been fired and are
being investigated in connection with Monday’s incident, which reignited rage
that civil rights activists said has long simmered in Minneapolis and cities
across the country over persistent racial bias in the US criminal justice
system.
The video of Floyd’s death, filmed by a
bystander, showed the 46-year-old repeatedly pleading with the officers and
telling them he could not breathe.
In the Minneapolis neighbourhood of Lyndale, the
mood was sombre on Saturday morning as dozens of people surveyed the damage and
swept up glass and debris from the night before.
Luke Kallstrom, 27, a financial analyst, stood
in the threshold of a post office that had been burned to the ground.
“It’s unbelievable,” he said. “It pains me so
much. This does not honour the man who was wrongfully taken away from us.”
As he spoke, several military vehicles rolled
by, loaded with soldiers.
Some of Friday’s most chaotic scenes were in the
New York City borough of Brooklyn, where thousands of demonstrators gathered
near the Barclays Center arena. Police armed with batons and pepper spray made
more than 200 arrests in sometimes violent clashes.
Several officers were injured, police said.
In Washington, police and Secret Service agents
deployed in force around the White House before dozens of demonstrators
gathered across the street in Lafayette Square.
In Atlanta, Bernice King, the youngest daughter
of civil rights icon Martin Luther King Jr, urged people to go home on Friday
night after more than 1,000 protesters marched to the state capitol and blocked
traffic on an interstate highway.
The demonstration turned violent at points.
Fires burned near the CNN Center, the network's headquarters, and windows were
smashed at its lobby. At least one police car was among several vehicles
torched.
Rapper Killer Mike, in an impassioned speech
flanked by the city’s mayor and police chief, also implored angry residents to
stay indoors and to mobilise to win at the ballot box.
“Make sure you exercise your political bully
power,” he said. “But it is not time to burn down your own home.”
Authorities in Minneapolis had hoped Chauvin’s
arrest would allay public anger. Late on Friday, officers opened fire with tear
gas, plastic bullets and concussion grenades to disperse protesters. Still,
Friday night’s demonstrations were far smaller and more widely dispersed than
the night before.
Murder charge
Derek Chauvin, the white former Minneapolis
police officer shown in video footage using his knee to pin an unarmed black
man’s neck to the street, was charged with murder on Friday in the man’s death.
Chauvin was arrested on third-degree murder and manslaughter charges.
