05/31/2020 - 21:45
- Clarín.com
- World
Washington decreed a curfew on Sunday after new protests near the White House , the mayor of the United States capital, Muriel Bowser , announced hours after a night of riots in several cities in the country.
The curfew will be in effect between 23:00 local time on Sunday until 6:00 on Monday, Bowser said on Twitter, where he announced that he had ordered the deployment of the National Guard to support the police .
Mayor Bowser is ordering a citywide curfew for the District of Columbia from 11:00 pm on Sunday, May 31, until 6:00 am on Monday, June 1. She has also activated the DC National Guard to support the Metropolitan Police Department.
- Mayor Muriel Bowser #StayHomeDC Lite (@MayorBowser) May 31, 2020Large cities across the country imposed curfews, including Atlanta, Chicago, Denver, Los Angeles, San Francisco, and Seattle. Around 5,000 elements of the National Guard were deployed in 15 states and in the capital.
President Donald Trump no longer threatened to appeal to the National Guard but to turn to the military if local Democratic rulers do not respond harshly against violence in protests over the death of George Floyd at the hands of Minneapolis police . "We are not playing! '', The president shot.
This Sunday, a series of nine protests rocked the entire United States , even as the rubble of the previous day's unrest was still being cleared, with some isolated acts of violence and crime during largely peaceful protests.
From Boston to San Francisco, they took to the streets again, and signs of trouble emerged in some cities that closed the streets and imposed curfews after days of turmoil. People looted stores in broad daylight in Philadelphia and Santa Monica, California, and a truck hit a crowd that blocked a highway in Minneapolis .
Peaceful police and protesters alike called for an end to the violence, ensuring that it only hinders demands for justice and reform.
"It only hurts the cause," said Danielle Outlaw , commissioner of the Philadelphia Police Department, where more than 200 people were arrested amid fire and looting in various parts of the city.
The outrage at racism across many generations in a country founded by slavers added to a series of recent deaths to fuel discontent.
Three months before Floyd's death, Ahmaud Arbery was shot dead while jogging through a Georgia neighborhood. A father and his son, both white, face charges in that case. In the month before Arbery's murder, anti-drug police in Louisville, Kentucky shot EMS worker Breonna Taylor eight times on the doorstep of her home. No drugs were found at his residence.
Added to this is the anxiety of months of confinement due to the coronavirus pandemic, which has disproportionately affected communities of color, not only in terms of infections but also in terms of job losses and economic problems.
Crowds gathering in protest and singing chants pose a threat of further outbreaks, a fact overshadowed by mounting tensions. "We are fed up. The police are out of control," said protester ben Washington, DC "They are savages. Too many boys have just died," he said.
The scale of the protests, from coast to coast and in a single night, rivals the historical demonstrations that took place in the times of the struggle for civil rights and the Vietnam War.
In Minneapolis, state and local police and members of the National Guard took to the streets shortly after the curfew took effect at 8 p.m. Saturday to disperse the protests.
The deployment of force came after three days that police largely avoided clashes with protesters, and after the state ordered the deployment of more than 4,000 National Guard troops in Minneapolis. Authorities reported that the number would rise to almost 11,000.
Source: agencies.