Tensions are mounting in the US where protests ignite after the death of an African American citizen, George Floyd, in Minneapolis during an arrest. In Jacksonville, Florida, an agent was "stabbed or injured in the neck and is currently in the hospital . " Sheriff Mike Williams told CNN that other agents were attacked by rioters and hit with stones and bricks during protests in the city. Many arrests have been made, he said, without giving an exact number.
At least three people were shot and one died in protests in central Indianapolis . The police are still investigating and advising citizens to avoid the area. A police officer also reported minor injuries.
A Huffington Post reporter, Chris Mathias, was taken into police custody and then released as he followed up on protests against racism in New York City. The same newspaper reports it. The reporter was released around one in the morning after being taken to the Brooklyn police district.
At least 25 cities in 16 states - CNN reports - have imposed a curfew . The National Guard has also been activated in about a dozen states and in the District of Columbia.
California Governor Gavin Newsom has declared a state of emergency in Los Angeles County . Previously, the curfew had been announced in several California cities, including San Francisco where the National Guard had been alerted to respond to the unrest.
Since the beginning of the protests, according to the PA, 1,400 arrests have been made. Second evening of demonstration also in front of the White House , where hundreds of demonstrators gathered to protest. The agents used the stinging spray to disperse the crowd, but the demonstrators resisted and some of them removed the barricades and threw fragments of asphalt. A garbage can was also set on fire. The National Guard has taken a stand around the White House.
US presidential candidate Joe Biden condemned the violence of the protests, but stressed that Americans have the right to demonstrate. "Protesting against this brutality is right and necessary. It is an absolutely American response - he declared - but igniting communities and needlessly destroying is not. Violence that endangers life is not. Violence that destroys and closes down activities that serve the community is not . "
Minneapolis remains the epicenter of the riots , where yesterday thousands of people challenged the weekend curfew and the national guard by vandalizing Chauvin's house and setting fire to a gas pump, a post office, a bank and a restaurant, before the agents - three times higher than those deployed in protests against racial segregation in the 1960s - made some arrests and prevented a new barracks from being set on fire.
The nocturnal appeal of Governor Tim Waltz to return home was worthless: "I understand the anger but all this does not concern the death of George Floyd, nor the inequalities, which are real. This is chaos," he had warned. But protests erupted in over 30 American cities, with identical slogans: 'No justice, no peace' and 'I can't breathe', the phrase uttered by Floyd before he died .
In Detroit, Michigan, a nineteen-year-old was killed by shots from an SUV aimed at the crowd he was demonstrating , while in Oakland, California, one officer died and another was injured by a gunshot wound , although according to local police the episode "apparently is not connected to the demonstrations".
The toughest confrontations were in Portland, Oregon , where the crowd first tried to set a police station like in Minneapolis on fire and then attacked a Starbucks, an Apple store and another from Microsoft, forcing the agents to intervene with tear gas. and stun grenades. Moments of tension also in New York, where thousands of people took to the streets in Brooklyn, some throwing bottles and stones at the police, who responded with stinging sprays and arresting dozens of demonstrators.
At least 200 people ended up in handcuffs in Los Angeles . Clashes in Atlanta , where the governor declared a state of emergency and called 500 men from the national guard.
In the meantime, investigations have led to further developments. A new video shows not one but three policemen pressing their knees on Floyd. And Chauvin, the only one arrested, appears to have held his on the African American's neck for almost nine minutes, three of which when he no longer reacted. The preliminary results of the autopsy on Floyd, which excludes traumatic asphyxia and strangulation concluding that "the combined effects of being blocked by the police, of his previous pathologies (coronary artery disease and hypertension) and some potential intoxicating substance, increase anger. in his body probably contributed to his death. " The family has already asked for an independent autopsy: "We don't trust the local authorities."