A Peaceful Protest – A battle cry for help and justice prevails across the different states of America due to the death of George Floyd. Even the threat of pandemic is really deadly, the citizens have unleashed their distaste about the injustices and loopholes of police violence as seen on the video captured. On other states, Some were peaceful and revoking the violence caused by instigators who hijacked civil protests and overshadowed their calls for justice. The damage inflicted is still on-going. The buildings and vehicles were ablaze and others lit fireworks and threw bottles and stones at officers. Police responded with rubber bullets, tear gas and arrests. Some states called in National Guard soldiers by the hundreds to respond to the unrest.
According to CNN:
• A video shows a New York City police vehicle driving into a barrier with protesters behind it and knocking the people over. Mayor Bill de Blasio said the action was “upsetting,” but that officers are working under tough conditions. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez slammed de Blasio’s response.
• At least three people were shot — one of them fatally — during protests in downtown Indianapolis Saturday night, police chief Randal Taylor said. Authorities advised residents to avoid the area.
• In Missouri, the Ferguson police department building was damaged and evacuated as protesters threw bricks, fireworks, rocks and bottles at officers during protests. Ferguson saw violent protests in 2014 after Michael Brown, an 18-year-old black man, was shot and killed during an encounter with a white police officer in August 2014.
Everybody is restless and eager to uphold justice for equality. For almost a week, thousands of protesters remained civil and never caused any unrest. Many knelt, others chanted, and some carried signs with Floyd’s last words: “I can’t breathe.” One community activist said while many protesters don’t condone violence, nonviolent pleas have “gone unnoticed for years.”
Rev. William Barber, the Co-Chair of Poor People’s Campaign stated “This is what happens when people have experienced the deadliness of racism — but not all of it through police brutality, but also the kind of deadliness that racism has in policies — over and over again,”
“What we are seeing is public mourning.”
Americans and public officials have demanded justice against the four officers involved in 46-year-old Floyd’s death. All four were fired from the Minneapolis Police Department Tuesday.
Derek Chauvin, the ex-Minneapolis officer seen in a video kneeling on Floyd’s neck for almost 9 minutes, was charged Friday with third-degree murder and second-degree manslaughter. His bail has been set at $500,000.
New video posted on social media appears to show three Minneapolis police officers — not just Chauvin
In Minneapolis, where Floyd died Monday evening, demonstrators were tear gassed by police as they tried marching across a bridge from Minneapolis to St. Paul. The National Guard announced it was sending a total of 10,800 members to respond to the protests.
Mayor John Cooper of Nashville declared where a 10 p.m. curfew was set and a state of civil emergency, was also announced. To avoid further damage and bloodshed, officers used tear gas to disperse a crowd that turned violent. Protestors set Nashville’s historic courthouse on fire, according to police, and several businesses were damaged and vehicles were also set on fire,
“Additional gas is being deployed outside the courthouse. The crowd is being warned of their unlawful assembly,” the city’s police department tweeted Saturday night.
In Atlanta, which saw widespread destruction, looting and large blazes Friday night, Gov. Brian Kemp authorized at least 3,000 National Guard troops ahead of protests expected Sunday.
In many parts of the country, authorities detained protesters who threw projectiles at police or damaged property. But some were outsiders who weren’t even part of the original protests.
In New York City, 33 officers were injured overnight, including some who were seriously injured, a senior NYPD official told CNN.
About four dozen police vehicles were damaged or destroyed, and more than 340 people were arrested, the official said.
In Dallas, police arrested at least 74 people. In Atlanta, 51 people were arrested Saturday night and a small crowd remained out past the city’s 9 p.m. curfew, police said.
Officials in some states have said many are coming just to wreak havoc.
“Nothing we do to provide justice for George Floyd … matter(s) to any of these people who are out here firing upon National Guard, burning businesses of our communities,” Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz told reporters on Saturday.
Data from the Hennepin County Sheriff’s Office showed 43 of those 51 accused of rioting, unlawful assembly, burglary or damage to property had Minnesota addresses.
3,000 protesters gathered last Saturday in Philadelphia and, Mayor Jim Kenney said the majority of those demonstrators were peaceful and expressed “our collective grief.”
“The people that were doing the actual protests were not the problem,” Kenney said. “The people who were actually marching for a purpose were not the problem. It was this ragtag group of people who were destructive folks, who were doing the things to our officers, to the buildings, setting cars on fire.”
