Unrest over Floyd killing escalates

MINNEAPOLIS, May 31

Civil unrest flared in over 25 US cities and curfews were imposed on Sunday as demonstrators took to the streets to vent outrage at the death of a black man shown on video gasping for breath as a white Minneapolis policeman knelt on his neck.

From Los Angeles to Miami to Chicago, protests marked by chants of “I can’t breathe” — a rallying cry echoing the dying words of George Floyd — began peacefully before turning unruly as demonstrators blocked traffic, set fires and clashed with riot police, some firing tear gas and plastic bullets in an effort to restore order.

In the nation’s capital, hundreds of demonstrators assembled near the Justice Department headquarters shouting, “black lives matter.” President Donald Trump said on Saturday that if protesters who gathered the night before in Lafayette Square, across from the White House, had breached the fence, “they would have been greeted with the most vicious dogs, and most ominous weapons, I have ever seen.”

Meanwhile, hundreds of people protested in London and Berlin on Sunday in solidarity with demonstrations in the United States over the death of a black man shown on video gasping for breath as a white policeman knelt on his neck in Minneapolis. — Agencies

Biden condemns violent protests

Washington: Presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden condemned the violence in a statement, as he continued to express common cause with those demonstrating after Floyd’s death. “The act of protesting should never be allowed to overshadow the reason we protest,” Biden said in a statement Saturday night. “It should not drive people away from the just cause that protest is meant to advance.” Officials in Minneapolis say they’ve succeeded for now in stopping the violent protests that ravaged parts of the city for several days after the death of George Floyd. Police, state troopers and National Guard members moved in to break up protests after an 8 pm curfew took effect, firing tear gas and rubber bullets to clear streets outside a police precinct and elsewhere. AP

Fear of new virus outbreak looms

Los Angeles: The mayor of Atlanta has a message for demonstrators: “If you were out protesting last night, you probably need to go get a Covid test this week.” As emergency orders are lifted and beaches and businesses reopen, add protests to the list of concerns about a second wave of Covid outbreak. AP