Anger against racism and police brutality continued on Tuesday in the United States, despite looting, clashes with the police and the martial tone of Donald Trump, determined to restore order by resorting if necessary to l 'army.
Nine days after the death in Minneapolis of George Floyd, a black man asphyxiated by a white police officer, the wave of historical protest knows no respite. At least 60,000 people paid homage to the deceased on Tuesday at a peaceful rally in Houston, the Texas city where he grew up and where he is to be buried next week. " We want them to know that George didn't die in vain, " said city mayor Sylvester Turner.
In Los Angeles, Mayor Eric Garcetti posed with the police a knee on the ground, a symbol since 2016 of the denunciation of police violence against the African-American minority.
In Washington, several thousand people, including Democratic Senator Elizabeth Warren, demonstrated until late in the evening, defying the curfew decreed by the municipality from 7:00 p.m. The surrounding area of the White House was blocked by metal barriers, preventing any direct confrontation with the police.
Senator Elizabeth Warren and her husband Bruce Mann at Lafayette Square, across from the White House, Tuesday. WG DUNLOP / AFP
The US capital, where more than 300 protesters were arrested on Monday evening, " was the safest place on the planet last night ," Donald Trump said, assuming the president's position on " Law and Justice". 'order '.
Calm reigned in Minneapolis, the epicenter of this surge of anger. " I want him to be done justice because he was good, no matter what people think, he was a good person, " George Floyd's partner Roxie Washington said in tears. a press conference.
Read also: In Minneapolis, the protest is politicized
For the past week, unrest has spread to more than a hundred American cities, with thousands of arrests and several deaths. Donald Trump paid tribute Tuesday night to a former police officer killed on a looting scene in St. Louis, Missouri.
In New York, where several department stores on famous 5th Avenue were looted Monday evening, the night curfew was brought forward at 8:00 p.m. and extended until Sunday. This did not prevent several hundred demonstrators, black and white, from protesting peacefully chanting " George Floyd, George Floyd " or " Black Lives Matter! (" Black lives matter "), a rallying cry against police violence targeting African-Americans. The curfew " is a tool to prevent people from demonstrating rather than arresting people who commit crimes, " said Tazhiana Gordon, a 29-year-old black nurse.
" Dominate the streets "
In a muscular speech, the American president announced Monday evening the deployment of " thousands of heavily armed soldiers " and police in Washington to put an end to " the riots " and " the looting ". And he called on the governors to " dominate the streets " while threatening to send the army " to quickly solve the problem for them " if they did not act according to his directives.
Just before his speech, the police had dispersed tear gas from many protesters around the White House to allow the president to walk to an emblematic church degraded the day before. This gesture was denounced by Protestant and Catholic leaders who condemned a " morally repugnant " coup .
Washington mayor Muriel Bowser protested the sending of the military " to the streets of America against the Americans, " an attack resumed by many Democratic governors. Because the crisis, in a country already extremely divided, is taking an increasingly political turn.
Democratic presidential candidate November 3, Joe Biden, accused Donald Trump on Tuesday of " turning this country into a battlefield plagued by old grudges and new fears ". During a trip to Philadelphia, he promised to " heal the racial wounds that have been plaguing our country for so long ." Former Republican President George W. Bush said it was " time for America to examine our tragic failures ."
Faced with protests, which occur in the United States where social and racial inequalities are already exacerbated by the Covid-19 pandemic, Donald Trump has remained silent so far on the responses to the evils denounced by the demonstrators. And only very briefly mentioned the " revolt " of the Americans faced with the conditions of the death of George Floyd.
This man of 46 years died on May 25 by repeating " I can not breathe " ( " I can not breathe "), lying on the ground, handcuffed and with the neck below the knee of a police officer whose colleagues remained passive. Autopsies confirmed that the death was due to pressure on his neck.
The perpetrator, Constable Derek Chauvin, was dismissed by the police, then arrested and charged with manslaughter. But the protesters and George Floyd's family want the three other police officers who participated in the arrest also to be prosecuted.