Jubilee Post News & Views
Special Desk
Violence clashes led to deployment of US National Guard to Minneapolis following the death of an unarmed man in custody.
George Floyd, 46, died and video showed him gasping for breath as a white policeman knelt on his neck. This led to widespread protests and this has been third night of violence in the city.
Reports say one police station has been overrun by demonstrators, and officers were seen abandoning the building that was set on fire. This was the Minneapolis Police Department’s 3rd Precinct, where the officers involved in the killing of George Floyd are believed to have been working.
Protests were also held in Chicago, Los Angeles and Memphis. The killing added to longstanding anger over the police killings of black Americans, including the recent case of Breonna Taylor in Kentucky.
Minnesota Governor Tim Walz activated the state’s national guard troops on Thursday at the request of the mayors of Minneapolis and nearby St Paul, declaring the situation a “peacetime emergency”. He said the looting, vandalism and arson of a night earlier had resulted in damage to many businesses, including ones owned by minorities.
“George Floyd’s death should lead to justice and systemic change, not more death and destruction,” he said in a statement calling on all protests to remain peaceful.
Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey called for criminal charges against the policeman who was filmed pinning down Floyd. Four police officers involved in the arrest have already been fired. The incident echoes the case of Eric Garner, who was placed in a police chokehold in New York in 2014. His death became a rallying cry against police brutality and a catalyst in the Black Lives Matter movement.
Protests began in the afternoon on Tuesday, when hundreds of people came to the intersection where the incident had taken place. Organisers tried to keep the protest peaceful and maintain social distancing, with demonstrators raising slogans ‘I can’t breathe’, ‘it could’ve been me’.
During the second night of demonstrations on Wednesday, the crowd grew into the thousands, with protesters pelting rocks and some throwing tear-gas canisters back at police.
