Minneapolis lawmakers vow to disband police

WASHINGTON, June 8

Minneapolis city council members pledged to abolish the police force whose officer knelt on the neck of George Floyd as the biggest civil rights protests in more than 50 years demanded a transformation of US criminal justice.

Demonstrations have swept a country slowly emerging from the Covid lockdown in the two weeks since Floyd, an unarmed black man (46), died after choking out the words “I can’t breathe” under the knee of a white police officer.

Though there was violence in the early days, the protests have lately been overwhelmingly peaceful. They have deepened a political crisis for President Donald Trump, who repeatedly threatened to order active duty troops onto the streets.

Trump took to Twitter around midnight to lash out at the boss of the National Football League, America’s biggest sport, who, in a sign of a cultural shift, swung behind protesting players and adopted their slogan “Black Lives Matter”.

Huge weekend crowds gathered across the country and in Europe. The high-spirited atmosphere was marred late on Sunday when a man drove a car into a rally in Seattle and then shot and wounded a demonstrator who confronted him.

“I have cops in my family, I do believe in a police presence,” said Nikky Williams, a black Air Force veteran who marched in Washington on Sunday. “But I do think that reform has got to happen.”

The prospect that Minneapolis could abolish its police force altogether would have seemed unthinkable just two weeks ago.

Nine members of the 13-person city council pledged on Sunday to do away with the police department in favor of a community-led safety model, though they provided little detail.

“A veto-proof majority of the MPLS City Council just publicly agreed that the Minneapolis Police Department is not reformable and that we’re going to end the current policing system,” Alondra Cano, a member of the Minneapolis council, said on Twitter.

When black football players knelt during the national anthem to protest against police brutality in 2016, Trump denounced them with an expletive and the NFL effectively took his side, telling players to stand or stay off the field for the song.

Over the weekend, the NFL issued a video of Commissioner Roger Goodell apologising for failing to listen to black players: “We, the NFL, believe Black Lives Matter,” Goodell said.

Trump fired back overnight: “Could it be even remotely possible that in Roger Goodell’s rather interesting statement of peace and reconciliation, he was intimating that it would now be O.K. for the players to KNEEL, or not to stand, for the National Anthem, thereby disrespecting our Country & our Flag?” he tweeted. — Reuters

Protests subverted by thuggery: UK PM

London: The anti-racism demonstrations in the UK are “subverted by thuggery”, Prime Minister Boris Johnson has said, condemning the attacks on police officers after ‘Black Lives Matter’ protests held over the custodial killing of George Floyd turned violent and the Covid-19 lockdown was breached by thousands of people for a second consecutive day. Johnson took to social media on Sunday to say, “People have a right to protest peacefully and while observing social distancing but they have no right to attack the police,” said Johnson. “These demonstrations have been subverted by thuggery – and they are a betrayal of the cause they purport to serve. Those responsible will be held to account,” he said. PTI

Final adieu today

Houston: Family and friends of George Floyd have started preparing to pay their final tributes and goodbyes to him at a funeral service here on Tuesday, weeks after the African-American was killed by a white police officer in Minneapolis. His body arrived in Houston on Saturday for funeral service and burial scheduled for Tuesday. PTI

Protester shot at

Seattle: Authorities say a man drove a car at George Floyd protesters in Seattle on Sunday night, hit a barricade and exited the vehicle brandishing a pistol. At least one person was injured. The Seattle Fire Department said the victim was a 27-year-old man who was shot and taken to hospital in a stable condition. AP