Police

Police and Rioters Get Violent at Protests in Cities Nationwide

Mayors are imposing curfews and governors are deploying the National Guard in response to anti-police-abuse protests.

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Yet another wave of protests has rocked America's cities tonight in response to the Monday death of George Floyd at the hands of Minnesota police. Mayors have imposed curfews, and the National Guard has been called out in at least 11 states, according to The Washington Post.

In Minneapolis, scenes of the same kind of police violence that sparked nationwide protests appeared to be on display. MSNBC reporter Ali Velshi says he was hit in the leg with a rubber bullet after police and National Guard fired non-lethal rounds on a crowd of protestors.

In another shocking video from the city, police fired paint canisters at several people filming them from their own front porch.

 

In Washington D.C., a building was set on fire just a few blocks from the White House, in the same area that police and protestors had clashed earlier in the evening. An SUV was set ablaze as well, and police reportedly have kettled protestors, refusing to let anyone leave the area.

In Chicago, protestors and police clashed throughout the day, and several police vehicles were vandalized.

Los Angeles saw peaceful protests from early in the day morph into evening looting of shops and businesses. The Los Angeles Times reports that the National Guard has been called out and will be deployed on city streets in the next few hours. At least 500 people have been arrested in that city, where a curfew is in place.

In Louisville, Kentucky—where a botched drug raid resulted in police shooting health care worker Breonna Taylor earlier in the month—one police officer fired pepper balls at a reporter and camera crew from the local NBC affiliate.

Al Jazeera reports Louisville's Hall of Justice was set on fire as well.

News media are reporting mass looting and property destruction in Philadelphia's Center City area. At least 13 police officers have been injured and dozens have been arrested.

It likely the violence will continue throughout the night. We won't get a full sense of the amount of destruction, and numbers of injured and arrested people until the morning.