Rioters set fire to a police station in Minneapolis, Minnesota on Thursday, May 28. For the fourth consecutive night since the death of George Floyd during his arrest by municipal police, thousands of protesters gathered, torching cars and shops and beating the police with stones.
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Minnesota Governor Tim Walz mobilized the National Guard on Thursday afternoon and declared a state of emergency. He said he supported peaceful protests but that the destruction committed justified further steps to maintain order. " Unfortunately, some people have engaged in illegal and dangerous activities, including arson, riots, looting and damage to public and private property ," Governor Walz said in his proclamation. These activities threaten the safety of legitimate protesters and other residents, and rescuers and protesters have already been injured . ”
The riots also took place in St. Paul, the capital of Minnesota and twin city of Minneapolis, where a state of emergency was also declared. During the day, a Target supermarket had been looted. The capitol of Saint-Paul, seat of the State Assembly, was evacuated for security reasons.
Public transportation was suspended until Sunday, and many stores closed. Protests spread to other U.S. cities on Thursday evening, including New York, Denver, Albuquerque and Portland, Oregon, after rallies were held the previous day in Los Angeles and Memphis.
But peaceful protests continued alongside the riots to demand justice. " Please stay home. Don't come and demonstrate. Keep in mind George Floyd and the goal of our movement, which is to prevent this from happening again, "black Minneapolis Mayor Melvin Carter called on Twitter.
George Floyd, 46, was arrested Monday night around 8 p.m. on a busy street in central Minneapolis. The police, alerted by a merchant who reports a concealment of counterfeit money, arrests Floyd while he is in his car, parked along the sidewalk. Surveillance cameras show him being handcuffed without resisting. A small crowd forms. A passerby films a terrible video, where we see Floyd, hands tied behind his back, pressed to the ground against the wheel of his vehicle. One of the policemen keeps his knee on his neck and weighs his weight. George Floyd, his face pressed against the asphalt, groans, and repeats: "I can't breathe, I'm going to die" . Spectators ask the police to let him breathe. When the policeman takes off his knee, Floyd lies inanimate. He was transported by ambulance to the hospital, where he was pronounced dead.
A police officer who has already been the subject of complaints
White police say Floyd resisted the arrest and do not say they kept him on the ground for long minutes. The video, posted on social media, has since gone viral, and has sparked protests across the United States.
The four police officers involved were removed from their posts. Derek Chauvin, the one who pressed his knee against George Floyd's neck, had been the subject of eighteen complaints, only two of which resulted in sanctions, in this case letters of reprimand. Another police officer had also been the subject of complaints, in particular for excessive use of force.
The mayor of Minneapolis requested that Derek Chauvin be arrested and charged. Two investigations have been initiated, one by the State of Minnesota, and the other at the federal level. Prosecutors said Thursday night that they have yet to charge any of the four police officers, including the one who knelt on George Floyd's neck. " We will investigate as quickly, as completely and completely as justice requires," said one of the prosecutors. Sometimes it takes a little while, and we ask people to be patient . ”
