Protests erupt across US after police killing of George Floyd
New York
Thousands of protesters stormed the security perimeter of Barclays Center in New York as protests spread across the United States over the killing of George Floyd, a Minneapolis black man who died after being pinned by the neck under a white police officer's knee.
Police made scores of arrests at Friday's massive demonstration in Brooklyn, loading cuffed protesters onto city buses lined up on Atlantic Avenue, shutting down a major thoroughfare.
A diverse group of protesters cheered to hip hop music and tried to argue about police brutality with police officers in riot gear, who occasionally lunged into crowds to pluck people out for arrest after bottles and other projectiles were thrown.
The demonstrators at a “We can't breathe” vigil and rally in lower Manhattan were pressing for legislation outlawing the police “chokehold” used by a city police officer in the 2014 death of Eric Garner, who was also black.
Fire work on a New York police vehicle that was set on fire as Police Officers control the crowd near Fort Greene Park after protesters rallied at the Barclays Center over the death of George Floyd, a black man who was in police custody in Minneapolis Friday, May 29, 2020, in the Brooklyn borough of New York. (AP)
Atlanta
In an impassioned speech, Bernice King, the youngest daughter of civil rights icon Martin Luther King Jr., implored people to go home after more than 1,000 protesters marched to the state capitol from the Centennial Olympic Park, blocking traffic and an interstate highway along the way.
“The only way we get what we really want is through non-violence,” Bernice King said in her father's hometown. “Let's do this the non-violent way to deal with the evil of our time.”
Police officers and protesters clash near CNN center, Friday, May 29, 2020 in Atlanta. (AP)
King was assassinated in 1968, a year after race riots spread across many big cities.
The Atlanta demonstration turned chaotic and at times violent. Fires were burning in downtown Atlanta near the CNN Center, the network's headquarters.
At least one police car was among several vehicles burnt. Windows were smashed at the CNN building, along with store fronts. Police pushed back the crowd, but they hurled bottles at officers.
Minneapolis
Hundreds of protesters defied an 8 p.m. curfew to gather in the streets around a police station burnt the previous night.
“We are out here because we, as a generation, realize things have to change,” said one marcher, Paul Selman, a 25-year-old black man, who had just graduated with a master's degree in English from Minnesota State. “We need peace.”
Protestors demonstrate outside of a burning Minneapolis 3rd Police Precinct, Thursday, May 28, 2020, in Minneapolis. Protests over the death of George Floyd, a black man who died in police custody Monday, broke out in Minneapolis for a third straight night. (AP)
Peter McMahon, 26, a resident of the area around the police station and owner of two nearby properties, said, “This is my generation, and these are the people I went to high school with,” adding, “This is not a surprise. I have lost good friends over this Black Lives Matter shit.”
Detroit
Hundreds in the automotive capital joined a “March Against Police Brutality” late in the afternoon outside the Detroit Public Safety Headquarters. Many chanted, “No justice, no peace.” Some carried signs that read, “End police brutality” and “I won't stop yelling until everyone can breathe.”
A 19-year-old man protesting in the city was shot dead on Friday night by a suspect who pulled up to demonstrators in a sport utility vehicle and fired gunshots into the crowd, then fled, the Detroit Free Press and other local media reported. Police could not immediately be reached for comment.
Protesters and Detroit Riot Police officers engage in an escalating series of confrontations in Downtown Detroit following a day of protests for the death of George Floyd on May 29, 2020 in Detroit, Michigan. (AFP)
Denver
Denver saw a second day of protests after hundreds marched peacefully through its downtown demanding justice for Floyd.
Participants walk with their hands in the air down the 16th Street Mall during a protest over the death of George Floyd, Friday, May 29, 2020, in Denver. More than 1,000 protesters walked from the Capitol down the 16th Street pedestrian mall during the protest. (AP)
Houston
Hundreds gathered on Friday in a protest organized by the group Black Lives Matter at City Hall. The crowd spilled onto Interstate 45's entrance ramp near downtown chanting, “I can't breathe,” and “No justice, no peace.”
Louisville
After a night of violence in which at least seven people were shot, police in the Kentucky city braced for more protests over the killing of Floyd and several others, such as Breonna Taylor, shot by police in her Louisville home in March.
Protesters gather to protest the deaths of George Floyd and Breonna Taylor, Friday, May 29, 2020, in Louisville, Ky. Breonna Taylor, a black woman, was fatally shot by police in her home in March. (AP)
Read more:
Pentagon prepares US military police to deploy to Minneapolis
Civil unrest rages in US over police killing of George Floyd
Protesters clash with riot police in US over racially charged killing of George Floyd
