Here’s what you need to know:
- A day of frustration turned into a night of fury as protests spread across the U.S.
- Protests spread beyond the U.S.
- As unrest convulses dozens of U.S. cities, mayors declare curfews and the National Guard is deployed.
- In Minneapolis, where George Floyd died and protests began, the police take a more aggressive response.
- Mayor of St. Paul calls for “peace, not patience.”
- Tens of thousands stage peaceful protests.
- The fires mostly extinguished, evidence of a night of mayhem lingers on Sunday.
A day of frustration turned into a night of fury as protests spread across the U.S.
Cities across the United States smoldered on Sunday morning after a largely peaceful day of protests collapsed into a night of chaos, destruction and sporadic violence.
The fear and fury that had seized Minneapolis, where the death of yet another black man at the hands of the police set off protracted unrest last week, swept well beyond Minnesota throughout the day and into the night, with tumultuous demonstrations from Columbus, Ohio, and Little Rock, Ark., to Miami and Washington.
Parts of Los Angeles were ablaze, squad cars and stores were damaged or destroyed in Chicago, gunfire echoed through downtown Indianapolis and one American city after another was filled with the smoke, gagging and vomiting that follow tear gas.
Hundreds of people were arrested across the country as clashes erupted between the police and protesters. In some cities, the authorities appeared to fire rubber bullets and other projectiles with little or no provocation. In New York City, two police vehicles surged forward into a crowd of demonstrators, some of whom were blocking the street and pelting the cars with debris.
At least 75 cities have seen protests in recent days, and mayors in more than two dozen cities imposed curfews. It was the first time so many local leaders have simultaneously issued such orders in the face of civic unrest since 1968, after the assassination of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. National Guard soldiers stood posts in Atlanta and Minneapolis, and California moved troops into Los Angeles.
Saturday’s upheaval was the fifth day of outrage since George Floyd died while in police custody in Minneapolis on Monday. A cellphone video showed a white police officer — since fired and charged with third-degree murder — grinding his knee into Mr. Floyd’s neck for more than eight minutes as he struggled to breathe.
Coming after months of restrictions to curb the coronavirus pandemic and the deep economic slowdown they have caused, with 40 million people out of work, the video of Mr. Floyd’s death brought a renewed outpouring of anguish over inequality and maltreatment.
Despite images of fires lighting up the night sky and lawlessness that threatened to overwhelm many of the nation’s police forces, many protesters were not seeking physical confrontation, but rather venting deep frustration and calling for change. “I’m not here to fight someone,” said Eldon Gillet, 40, who was on the streets in Brooklyn. “I’m here to fight a system.”
Just outside the White House’s fence line, smoke filled the air for a second night after President Trump continued to send conflicting and often divisive messages.
After writing on Twitter on Friday that “when the looting starts, the shooting starts” — echoing comments from a Miami police chief in 1967 — on Saturday morning Mr. Trump said the Secret Service had been prepared to sic the “most vicious dogs” on protesters outside the White House gates.
More protests are expected across the country on Sunday.
Protests Over Racism and Police Violence
Protests have erupted in at least 75 cities across the United States in the days after George Floyd, a black man, died in police custody. Some of the demonstrations have turned violent, prompting the activation of the National Guard in at least 10 states.
Protests since Wednesday
National Guard activated
Seattle
WASH.
Portland
Missoula
MINN.
Eugene
Minneapolis
Boston
WIS.
St. Paul
Hartford
New York
Salt Lake City
Des Moines
Sacramento
Phila.
Chicago
OHIO
Lincoln
Denver
Washington
Oakland
Indianapolis
UTAH
Cincinnati
San Jose
COLO.
Las Vegas
MO.
Kansas City
Lexington
Norfolk
KY.
Santa Fe
Tulsa
Charlotte
TENN.
Okla. City
L.A.
Columbia
Phoenix
Memphis
Atlanta
San Diego
Dallas
Tucson
GA.
Tallahassee
Houston
Austin
New Orleans
Orlando
Tampa
Miami
Seattle
WASH.
Missoula
Portland
ME.
MONT.
Eugene
MINN.
ORE.
Minneapolis
Boston
N.Y.
WIS.
MICH.
Buffalo
St. Paul
Hartford
Detroit
Milwaukee
New York
Salt Lake City
Fort Wayne
Des Moines
Sacramento
NEB.
PA.
Chicago
Phila.
NEV.
Columbus
OHIO
Lincoln
Denver
IND.
Oakland
Washington
Indianapolis
UTAH
Richmond
San Jose
Cincinnati
ILL.
COLO.
Kansas City
VA.
Hampton
MO.
CALIF.
Las Vegas
Lexington
Louisville
Norfolk
KY.
N.C.
Santa Fe
Tulsa
Charlotte
TENN.
ARIZ.
L.A.
Okla. City
S.C.
Columbia
Albuquerque
Phoenix
Memphis
OKLA.
Atlanta
San Diego
N.M.
GA.
Dallas
Tucson
TEX.
LA.
Tallahassee
Austin
New Orleans
Orlando
Houston
Tampa
FLA.
Miami
Protests spread beyond the U.S.
Hundreds of protesters gathered in Trafalgar Square in central London on Sunday afternoon and marched toward the United States Embassy, the most visible sign so far of popular support overseas for the protests across the U.S. against police killings of black people.
Holding signs and clapping their hands, the protesters gathered in the square in defiance of stay-at-home restrictions in effect across Britain to fight the coronavirus pandemic. They chanted “I can’t breathe,” “Black lives matter,” and “No justice, no peace,” before crossing the Thames to march peacefully to the embassy.
The protest march on Sunday echoed one on Saturday in the Peckham district of South London. Another London march is planned for next Sunday.
Several hundred protesters rallied outside the U.S. Embassy in Berlin on Sunday, holding up signs saying “Justice for George Floyd” and “Stop killing us,” Reuters reported.
As unrest convulses dozens of U.S. cities, mayors declare curfews and the National Guard is deployed.
From the high-end shops of Melrose Avenue in Los Angeles to Times Square in New York City — and most major cities in between — fires raged, hundreds of people were arrested and stores were looted in a night convulsed by often destructive demonstrations.
Here is the latest from around the nation:
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Indianapolis: One person was killed and three others were injured when a gunman fired shots at a protest, the police said.
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Chicago: Protesters scuffled with the police, burning at least one flag and marching toward the Trump International Hotel and Tower before dispersing. About 3,000 people took part in the protests, according to local news reports. Some police vehicles were vandalized and buildings spray-painted with graffiti.
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Los Angeles: Mayor Eric M. Garcetti issued a curfew and Gov. Gavin Newsom activated the National Guard, and protesters clashed with the police into the night. Stores were , and firefighters raced to put out fires in shops that looted and set ablaze.
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San Francisco: Mayor London Breed brought in a curfew as demonstrators marched through the region. Scores of businesses were looted in the Bay Area and a fire was set at a shopping mall, according to the police.
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Florida: Mayor Carlos Gimenez of Miami-Dade County ordered a countywide curfew beginning at 10 p.m. after police cars and other vehicles were set ablaze near the Miami Police Department headquarters. In Jacksonville, a police officer was “stabbed or slashed in the neck and is currently in the hospital,” Sheriff Mike Williams said at a news conference. And in the Tampa Bay area, some stores were looted or set on fire during a chaotic evening of protests that the authorities said left at least two deputies injured.
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Washington, D.C.: The National Guard was deployed outside the White House, where chanting crowds clashed with the Secret Service and attacked a Fox News reporter. Fires were set in nearby Lafayette Park.
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Philadelphia: At least 13 police officers were injured as protesters set cars on fire, broke windows at City Hall and ransacked stores across the center of the city. Mayor Jim Kenney declared a mandatory citywide curfew starting at 8 p.m.
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New York City: Thousands of protesters clashed with police in all five boroughs on Saturday. By early Sunday morning, more than 345 people had been arrested, 33 officers had been injured and 47 police vehicles had been damaged or destroyed, several of them set on fire, the police said. More than a dozen stores in Lower Manhattan were also looted.
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Atlanta: Local authorities, supported by up to 1,500 National Guard soldiers, enforced a 9 p.m. curfew, and the city avoided another night of extraordinary chaos in its downtown. Although the police fired tear gas and made more than 50 arrests, there were far fewer reports of property damage by Sunday morning.
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Nashville: Gov. Bill Lee sent soldiers to the city after unrest broke out there.
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Seattle: After a citywide curfew took effect at 5 p.m., the police spent hours using tear gas and physical force to push demonstrators away from the city’s retail core, where cars were set ablaze and windows at dozens of stores were smashed, including the flagship Nordstrom store.
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Richmond, Va.: Two police officers at the State Capitol were hospitalized with leg injuries after being struck by a baseball bat and a beer bottle, The Richmond Times-Dispatch reported. Earlier, the police fired tear gas at protesters, some of whom set off fireworks and smashed windows.
In Minneapolis, where George Floyd died and protests began, the police take a more aggressive response.
Protesters who took to the streets on Saturday in Minneapolis, the epicenter of the demonstrations, met a more determined response from police officers and National Guard troops.
Soon after an 8 p.m. curfew took effect in the city, the police began arresting protesters and firing tear gas and other projectiles toward crowds, and the National Guard used a helicopter to dump water on a burning car.
The response reflected a desire by the authorities to halt the violent protests that have spread nationwide since George Floyd, a 46-year-old black man, died after being pinned down by a white Minneapolis police officer.
Yet there were still reports of violence and destruction: a fire on the roof of a shopping mall, a person who shot at officers, and a group of people throwing items at the police. But state officials said around 11 p.m. that they were encouraged by the smaller crowds and apparent decrease in damage. Much of the city was empty shortly after midnight.
The demonstrations had escalated on Friday and Saturday even after a charge of third-degree murder was brought against Derek Chauvin, the Minneapolis police officer who was fired after being recorded kneeling on Mr. Floyd’s neck until he lost consciousness.
Mayor of St. Paul calls for “peace, not patience.”
Melvin Carter, the mayor of St. Paul, Minn., said on Sunday that what his city needed to help restore order after days of protests was not military assistance, but rather assurances that someone would be held accountable for the death of George Floyd. Speaking on the CNN program “State of the Union,” Mr. Carter called for “peace, not patience.”
Referring to the video of Mr. Floyd’s death that sparked the protests, he said, “When all of humanity can look at this video and say ‘That’s disgusting, that’s unacceptable,’ and yet somehow we have four officers in the video, three of whom sat there and either helped hold Mr. Floyd down or stood guard over the scene while it happened, that is an incredible insult to humanity.”
Mr. Carter, whose father is a retired St. Paul police officer, rejected the notion that Mr. Floyd’s death was an isolated incident or the work of one rogue officer. “When you have four officers all involved in taking George Floyd’s life, it points to a normalized culture that’s accepted.”
At least 170 businesses had been damaged during protests in St. Paul, he said. He called on protesters to channel their frustration and anger into “destroying laws, destroying legal precedents, destroying police union contracts,” instead of burning and looting.
Tens of thousands stage peaceful protests.
In Denver, protesters lay with their faces in the ground and arms behind their back for nine minutes this weekend, shouting: “I can’t breathe.”
Their words — echoing the plea made by George Floyd as a police officer grinded a knee into his neck in Minneapolis on Wednesday, and the same cry for help made by Eric Garner of Staten Island when a police officer put him in a fatal chokehold in 2014 — formed part of one of numerous peaceful demonstrations that have played out across the country in recent days.
Even as acts of destruction threatened to overshadow such efforts, here are scenes from across the United States of determined but nonviolent demonstrations.
The fires mostly extinguished, evidence of a night of mayhem lingers on Sunday.
Residents in cities across the United States woke on Sunday to streets littered with debris, shattered storefronts and burned-out shells of police cars on empty roads strewn with broken glass.
The story of the previous night’s chaos in cities from Seattle to Atlanta was also told in graffiti left scrawled on buildings and vehicles.
Protesters tagged “Black Lives Matter” on storefronts in Chicago. “Kill Cops” was the violent message spray painted on several buildings in Oakland. And in Salt Lake City, “Blue Lives Murder” was written on the walls of the State Capitol.
Even St. Patrick’s Cathedral in Manhattan was tagged.
The smell of smoke lingered in the air as firefighters in Philadelphia and other cities battled the last lingering flames on scorched streets. And all around, face masks littered the ground, a reminder that the coronavirus remains a looming threat.
Officials said it was too soon to tally the damages from the violence nationally, but it is likely to run into the millions of dollars. More than 250 businesses had been damaged as of Saturday evening in Minneapolis alone, according to the Star Tribune.
In Nashville, Ed Smith looked over his shoe store after it had been ransacked, his hand injured by broken glass.
“I just don’t understand,” told WKRN television.
At least four are killed in violence linked to the protests.
One person was killed and three others were injured when a gunman fired shots at a protest in Indianapolis early Sunday, bringing to at least four the number of people killed since Wednesday in violence connected with the protests.
The authorities were also investigating a possible connection with the shooting death of a federal officer in California. The officer, a contract security guard for the Department of Homeland Security, was fatally shot outside a federal courthouse in Oakland on Friday night as demonstrations in the city turned violent.
Ken Cuccinelli, the Department of Homeland Security’s acting deputy secretary, called the shooting an act of “domestic terrorism,” but the state’s governor cautioned against connecting the shooting with the protests.
Gov. Gavin Newsom, a Democrat, said in a statement that “No one should rush to conflate this heinous act with the protests last night.”
Elsewhere, people were killed when once-peaceful protests descended into violence.
The authorities in Minneapolis on Friday identified Calvin L. Horton Jr., 43, as the victim in a shooting outside a pawnshop that was looted on Wednesday.
In Detroit on Friday, a 21-year-old man was shot to death while sitting in his car near Cadillac Square as hundreds of protesters swarmed the streets. The police said the gunman might have known and targeted the victim and used the chaos of the demonstrations as a cover.
And early Saturday in St. Louis, a man was killed after protesters blocked Interstate 44, set fires and tried to loot a FedEx truck. The man was killed, the police said, when he became caught between the truck’s two trailers as the driver tried to wend his way through the protest.
President Trump fanned the flames of discord. Then they lapped at the White House gates.
With a nation on edge — ravaged by a pandemic, hammered by economic collapse, divided over lockdowns and even face masks, and continuing to be convulsed by racial discord — President Trump’s instinct has been to look for someone to fight.
As several cities erupted in street protests, some of which resulted in clashes with the police, he made no appeal for calm.
Instead, in a series of tweets and comments to reporters on Saturday, he blamed Democrats for the unrest, called on “Liberal Governors and Mayors” to get “MUCH tougher” on crowds, threatened to intervene with “the unlimited power of our Military” and suggested that his supporters mount a counterdemonstration.
The turmoil came to Mr. Trump’s doorstep for the second night in a row on Saturday as hundreds of people protesting the death of George Floyd and the president’s response surged in streets near the White House.
Most were peaceful, chanting, “Black lives matter” and “No peace, no justice.” But some ignited small fires, set off firecrackers, and threw bricks, bottles and fruit at Secret Service and U.S. Park Police officers, who responded with pepper spray. As police officers moved to secure the block, a Chevy Suburban was engulfed in a plume of black smoke and trees nearby were on fire.
Mr. Trump’s statements did little to tamp down the outrage. Writing on Twitter, he called demonstrators outside the White House “professionally managed so-called ‘protesters’” and suggested that his supporters would meet them. “Tonight, I understand, is MAGA NIGHT AT THE WHITE HOUSE???”
Former Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr., the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee, released a statement early Sunday morning appealing for calm.
“We are a nation in pain, but we must not allow this pain to destroy us,” he wrote. “We are a nation enraged, but we cannot allow our rage to consume us. We are a nation exhausted, but we will not allow our exhaustion to defeat us.”
Reporting was contributed by Mike Baker, Peter Baker, Alan Blinder, Nicholas Bogel-Burroughs, Tess Felder, Russell Goldman, Rebecca Halleck, Elian Peltier, Simon Romero, Marc Santora and Mihir Zaveri.
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