Minneapolis is under curfew as protests continue nationwide

Chanting “Hands up! Don’t shoot,” and “I can’t breathe,” thousands of protesters gathered in cities across the country Friday night after a fired Minneapolis police officer was charged with third-degree murder in the death of George Floyd.

As unrest following Floyd’s death gave way to the fourth night of demonstrations, crowds shut down Los Angeles freeways, clashed with police in Dallas and looted stores in Minneapolis. Even as a curfew was taking effect in Minneapolis, protesters were defying it, gathering in the streets around the police station that was burned a night earlier.

They chanted, “No justice, no peace, prosecute the police!”

In Atlanta, which saw some of the country’s biggest protests, Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms declared, “This is not how we change America.” Demonstrators in many other cities, including New York, also gathered to voice their anger after Floyd’s death:

A large crowd in Washington chanted outside the White House, prompting the Secret Service to temporarily lock down the building. Video on social media showed demonstrators knocking down barricades and spray-painting other buildings.

A march in Houston, where Floyd grew up, briefly turned chaotic as the windows of a police SUV were smashed and at least 12 protesters were arrested. As a standoff continued, the police shut all roads into and out of downtown. “We don’t want these young people’s legitimate grievances and legitimate concerns to be overshadowed by a handful of provocateurs and anarchists,” the city’s police chief, Art Acevedo, said in an interview.

Images from news helicopters above San Jose, California, showed protesters throwing objects at police officers, blocking a major freeway and setting fires downtown. Mayor Sam Liccardo said in an interview that he watched from City Hall as a peaceful protest — what he called people “expressing their righteous outrage on the injustice in Minneapolis” — turned violent.

“Black is not a crime,” declared a small crowd gathered outside police headquarters in Detroit. Mary Sheffield, a member of the City Council, led a chant, proclaiming, “I’m fired up. I’m fed up.” The demonstration later swelled to more than 1,000 protesters, who blocked traffic while marching on major thoroughfares leading downtown.

In downtown Dallas, protesters and the police clashed during a demonstration blocks from City Hall. Protesters blocked the path of a police vehicle and then started banging on its hood. Officers eventually responded with tear gas, and a flash-bang was later heard.

Hundreds of protesters converged on Civic Centre Park in Denver, waving signs and chanting as Sam Cooke’s “A Change Is Gonna Come” played over a loudspeaker. Some thrust fists in the air and scrawled messages on the ground in chalk, according to a news broadcast.

Protesters in Milwaukee briefly shut down part of a major highway, according to WTMJ-TV, and demonstrators shouted “I can’t breathe” — echoing Floyd’s anguished plea and the words of Eric Garner, a black man who died in New York police custody in 2014.

Police officers in Louisville, Kentucky, were filmed firing what appeared to be pepper spray balls at several hundred demonstrators protesting the police killing of Breonna Taylor. “I’m getting shot! I’m getting shot!” screamed a WAVE 3 News reporter, Kaitlin Rust, who was holding a microphone and wearing a yellow safety vest.

Fired officer is charged with third-degree murder after Floyd’s death.

The former police officer who was seen on video using his knee to pin down Floyd, who was black, has been arrested and charged with murder, authorities announced Friday, after days of growing unrest in Minneapolis escalated with the burning of a police station and protests that drew attention from the White House.

The former Minneapolis police officer, Derek Chauvin, who is white, was arrested by the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension on Friday, authorities said. Chauvin, 44, was charged with third-degree murder and second-degree manslaughter, Mike Freeman, the Hennepin County attorney, announced Friday afternoon.

Floyd’s relatives said in a statement that they were disappointed by the decision not to seek first-degree murder charges.

Third-degree murder does not require an intent to kill, according to the Minnesota statute, only that the perpetrator caused someone’s death in a dangerous act “without regard for human life.” Charges of first- and second-degree murder require prosecutors to prove, in almost all cases, that the perpetrator made a decision to kill the victim.

Chauvin was also charged with second-degree manslaughter, a charge that requires prosecutors to prove he was so negligent as to create an “unreasonable risk,” and consciously took the chance that his actions would cause Floyd to be severely harmed or die.

An investigation into the other three officers who were present at the scene Monday was ongoing, Freeman said.

The developments came after a night of chaos in which protesters set fire to a police station in Minneapolis, the National Guard was deployed to help restore order, and President Donald Trump injected himself into the mix with tweets that appeared to threaten violence against protesters.

The tensions in Minneapolis reflected a growing frustration around the country as demonstrators took to the streets to protest the death of Floyd and other recent killings of black men and women.

Floyd, 46, died Monday after pleading “I can’t breathe” while Chauvin pressed his knee into his neck, in an encounter that was captured on video.

Gov Tim Walz of Minnesota, a Democrat, expressed solidarity with the protesters during a news conference Friday but said that a return to order was needed to lift up the voices of “those who are expressing rage and anger and those who are demanding justice” and “not those who throw firebombs.”

Trump, who previously called the video of Floyd’s death “shocking,” drew criticism for a tweet early Friday that called the protesters “thugs” and said that “when the looting starts, the shooting starts.” The comments prompted Twitter to attach a warning to the tweet, saying that it violated the company’s rules about “glorifying violence.”

The president gave his first extensive remarks on the protests later Friday at the White House, declaring that “we can’t allow a situation like happened in Minneapolis to descend further into lawless anarchy and chaos. It’s very important, I believe, to the family, to everybody, that the memory of George Floyd be a perfect memory.”

Addressing his earlier Twitter comments, Trump said, “The looters should not be allowed to drown out the voices of so many peaceful protesters. They hurt so badly what is happening.”

The spectacle of a police station in flames and a president appearing to threaten violence against those protesting the death of a black man in police custody, set against the backdrop of a coronavirus pandemic that has kept many people from engaging with one another directly for months, added to the anxiety of a nation already plagued by crises.

The protests — some peaceful, some marked by violence — have spread across the country, from Denver and Phoenix to Louisville, Kentucky, and Columbus, Ohio, with more expected Friday night.

Minneapolis is under a curfew Friday night, with the National Guard on the streets.

Mayor Jacob Frey of Minneapolis imposed an 8pm curfew to try to stem the escalating violence that has engulfed the city for the last three nights.

The curfew will extend through the weekend, according to the mayor’s order, expiring at 6am each morning. During the hours of the curfew, people are prohibited from travelling on public streets or gathering in a public place.

But even as the curfew was taking effect on Friday evening, protesters were defying it, gathering in the streets around the police station that was burned a night earlier.

They chanted, “No justice, no peace, prosecute the police!”

Law enforcement officials fired tear gas into the streets and patrolled in military vehicles.

Late into the night Friday, several hundred demonstrators continued to chant near a police station, and people were reportedly taking goods from an office products store.

Walz, who activated the National Guard on Thursday as local police appeared to lose control over angry demonstrators, also extended the curfew to St Paul and said guardsmen would return to the streets in anticipation of more protests.

In the unrest Thursday night, more than 160 buildings were destroyed, damaged or looted, the Star Tribune reported. Nearly all businesses in the Seward neighbourhood of Minneapolis were shut Friday, many protected with plywood.

During a 90-minute news conference Friday, the governor said that officials should have anticipated that the protests could become violent, but he said it was unrealistic to expect law enforcement to stop people from coming out to demonstrate, even amid the social distancing orders that have been imposed during the coronavirus pandemic.

“Watching what happened to George Floyd had people say, ‘To hell with staying home,’” he said. “The idea that we would go in and break up those expressions of grief and rage was ridiculous.”

Camille Gage, 63, an artist and musician who joined the protests, said she was relieved that Chauvin had been charged. “How can anyone watch that video and think it was anything less?” she said. “Such blatant disregard for another living soul.”

Kelsey Lindell, 27, an executive producer for a local film company, said all four officers at the scene of the incident should be arrested, charged and punished for murder. “I want to see a higher charge for all the officers,” she said, “but the biggest thing for me is that this guy gets jail time.”

Walz acknowledged that the Minneapolis police had lost the trust of city residents, but he implored residents to see the National Guard as a peacekeeping force meant to keep “anarchists” from taking over and destroying more of the city.

“I need to ask Minnesotans, those in pain and those who feel like justice has not been served yet, you need to help us create the space so that justice will be served,” the governor said. “It is my expectation that it will be swift.”

Days of protests had intensified Thursday night when the Minneapolis Police Department’s 3rd Precinct station house was overrun by a crowd of protesters, with some people tossing fireworks and other items at officers, while police fired projectiles back.

Officers retreated in vehicles just after 10pm Thursday as protesters stormed the building — smashing equipment, lighting fires and setting off fireworks, according to videos posted from the scene.

Frey said at a news conference Friday morning that he had made the call for officers to flee the 3rd Precinct, saying, “The symbolism of a building cannot outweigh the importance of life.”

Frey, a Democrat, said he understood the anger of the city’s residents but pleaded with people to stop destroying property and looting stores.

“It’s not just enough to do the right thing yourself,” he said. “We need to be making sure that all of us are held accountable.”

John Harrington, commissioner of the Minnesota Department of Public Safety, said that arrests had been made related to looting Thursday night but that he did not know how many. The arrests included people breaking into the grocery stores, Targets and pharmacies, he said.

Protesters and officers trade projectiles outside Barclays Centre in New York.

Tensions flared in New York for the second night in a row as thousands of protesters stormed the perimeter of Barclays Centre in Brooklyn, trading projectiles of plastic water bottles, debris, and tear gas and mace with police officers.

The protest had begun peacefully Friday afternoon, with hundreds chanting, “Black lives matter,” and, “We want justice,” in downtown Manhattan. But the demonstrations took a turn in Brooklyn, where officers made between 50 and 100 arrests, a senior police official said.

Police officers with twist-tie handcuffs hanging from their belts stood next to Department of Corrections buses and squad cars with lights flashing, encircling the perimeter. A police helicopter and a large drone whirred in the hot air overhead.

Protesters were later seen throwing water bottles, an umbrella and other objects at officers, who responded by shooting tear gas into the crowd.

As that crowd scattered, protesters gathered in the streets in the nearby Fort Greene neighbourhood, continuing to chant at the police. An empty patrol van was set ablaze, then pillaged, as people pried the doors off the hinges. Fireworks were thrown into the burned shell of the vehicle. Scribbled on the hood was the phrase “dead cops.”

By 10pm, riot police had descended on the neighbourhood. Another police official had described the scene in parts of the borough as “out of control.”

Earlier in the evening, several hundred people filled Foley Square near the city’s criminal courthouses. After a man in a green sweatshirt crossed a police barricade, he was swarmed by officers while protesters screamed. He was led away on foot in handcuffs.

“It was kind of his mistake,” said Jason Phillips, 27, of Queens. “But they were trying to push him back, and as they pushed him back, he slipped, and they took that as some type of threat.”

Despite the frustrations of demonstrators Friday, police said the number of people detained was much smaller than the night before, when 72 people were arrested.

Floyd was pinned for minutes while unresponsive, prosecutors said.

In a probable cause affidavit released Friday after the charges against Chauvin were filed, prosecutors said that the former officer held his knee to Floyd’s neck for more than eight minutes. “Two minutes and 53 seconds of this was after Mr. Floyd was non-responsive,” the affidavit said.

But preliminary results from an autopsy indicated that Floyd did not die from suffocation or strangulation, prosecutors wrote, and that “the combined effects” of an underlying heart condition, any potential intoxicants and the police restraint likely contributed to his death. He also began complaining that he could not breathe before he was pinned down, the affidavit said.

The officers’ body cameras were running throughout the encounter, prosecutors said.

Four officers responded to a report at about 8pm Monday about a man suspected of making a purchase from a store with a fake $20 bill, prosecutors said. After learning that the man was parked near the store, the first two responding officers, who did not include Chauvin, approached Floyd, a former high school sports star who worked as a bouncer at a restaurant in Minneapolis.

Floyd, who was in a car with two other people, was ordered out and arrested. But when the officers began to move him toward a squad car, he stiffened and resisted, according to the affidavit. While still standing, Floyd began to say he could not breathe, the affidavit said.

That was when Chauvin, who was among two other officers who arrived at the scene, got involved, prosecutors said. Around 8:19pm, Chauvin pulled Floyd out of the squad car and placed his knee onto Floyd’s neck area, holding him down on the ground while another officer held his legs. At times, Floyd pleaded, the affidavit said, saying, “I can’t breathe,” “please” and “mama.”

“You are talking fine,” the officers said, according to the affidavit, as Floyd wrestled on the ground.

At 8:24pm, Floyd went still, prosecutors said. A minute later, one of the other officers checked his wrist for a pulse but could not find one. Chauvin continued to hold his knee down on Floyd’s neck until 8:27, according to the affidavit.

The other officers, who have been identified as Thomas Lane, Tou Thao and J Alexander Kueng, are under investigation. Freeman, the county attorney, said he expected to bring more charges in the case but offered no further details.

A stronger murder charge would have required a motive for Floyd’s death.

Richard Frase, a professor of criminal law at the University of Minnesota, said it was reasonable for prosecutors to charge Chauvin with third-degree murder, as opposed to a more severe form of murder, which would require proving that Chauvin intended to kill Floyd.

Frase said the case against Chauvin appeared to be even stronger than the one that Hennepin County prosecutors brought against Mohamed Noor, a former Minneapolis police officer who shot and killed Justine Ruszczyk in 2017.

Noor was charged with the same combination of crimes, third-degree murder and second-degree manslaughter, and was convicted of both.

In that case, Frase said, the officer had seemingly panicked and fired a single shot. “There’s a question of whether he even had time to be reckless,” he said, referring to Noor. “Here, there’s eight minutes.”

The criminal complaint against Chauvin, Frase said, did not identify any specific motive for officers to kill Floyd, which he said essentially ruled out first or second-degree murder unless additional evidence surfaced.

Ben Crump, a civil rights lawyer representing Floyd’s family, released a statement Friday calling the arrest of Chauvin “a welcome but overdue step on the road to justice.” But he said the charges did not go far enough.

“We expected a first-degree murder charge. We want a first-degree murder charge. And we want to see the other officers arrested,” said the statement, which was attributed to Floyd’s family and to Crump.

“The pain that the black community feels over this murder and what it reflects about the treatment of black people in America is raw and is spilling out onto streets across America,” the statement said.

Frase said he expected Chauvin’s lawyers to seize on the preliminary autopsy findings that showed that Floyd had not died of asphyxiation, which could form the basis for an argument that there was no way Chauvin could have expected him to die. But Frase said another common strategy used by police officers facing charges of brutality — arguing that they were in harm’s way — may be unlikely to convince a jury.

“In this case, there was nobody but Mr. Floyd in danger,” he said. “And there was all that time when it seems there was no need to keep kneeling on his neck like that.”

A government drone in the skies over Minneapolis stokes civil liberties concerns.

A Predator drone operated by the federal Customs and Border Protection agency flew a surveillance mission over Minneapolis on Friday morning as the city reeled from days of escalating violence, stoking suspicion and prompting criticism from civil liberties groups.

An agency spokesman said in a statement that the unmanned aircraft “was preparing to provide live video to aid in situational awareness at the request of our federal law enforcement partners in Minneapolis.”

But after more than an hour flying in a holding pattern at 20,000 feet over the city, according to publicly available flight data, the drone returned to its base in North Dakota. “The requesting agency determined that the aircraft was no longer needed,” the statement said.

The drone was spotted on an online flight-tracking tool and was earlier reported by Jason Paladino of the Project on Government Oversight.

In recent years, US government agencies have used surveillance aircraft to monitor protests in American cities. The American Civil Liberties Union, which is suing the Baltimore Police Department to block its surveillance plane program, called on Friday for Customs and Border Protection to immediately halt the use of its drone over Minneapolis.

“This rogue agency’s use of military technology to surveil protesters inside US borders is deeply disturbing,” Neema Singh Guliani, a lawyer for the group, said in a statement.

Obama and Biden addressed Floyd’s death.

Former President Barack Obama on Friday called on the nation to work together to create a “new normal” in which bigotry no longer infects institutions, while former Vice President Joe Biden used a short speech to call for “justice for George Floyd.”

In a statement posted to Twitter, Obama said, “It’s natural to wish for life ‘to just get back to normal’ as a pandemic and economic crisis upend everything around us.” But for millions of Americans, being treated differently because of race is “normal,” Obama said, referencing two other recent cases: Ahmaud Arbery, who was killed after two men confronted him while he was running in south Georgia, and Christian Cooper, who was bird watching in Central Park when a woman called police to say she was being threatened.

“This shouldn’t be ‘normal’ in 2020 America,” Obama said, adding: “It falls on all of us, regardless of our race or station, to work together to create a ‘new normal’ in which the legacy of bigotry and unequal treatment no longer infects our institutions or our hearts.”

Gov. Andrew Cuomo of New York, who has risen on the national political stage for his coronavirus response, spoke up in defence of the protesters in Minnesota.

“I stand figuratively with the protesters,” he said Friday. “I stand against the arson and the burglary and the criminality, and I think all well-meaning Americans stand with the protesters. Enough is enough.”

© 2020 New York Times News Service