“Say his name!” When the several thousand demonstrators face the police units armed with batons and tear gas, they want everyone to understand why they are here this Thursday evening. “Says his name: George Floyd,” they shout angrily, remembering the 46-year-old African American who died after a police operation on Monday.
“Say his name” and “I can’t breath”, Floyd’s words of desperation while a white police officer kneeled on his neck for nine minutes, have become the battle cries of the protest that has rocked Minneapolis for days and is affecting more and more cities the USA expands.
A CNN team is briefly arrested
Minneapolis combines everything that is currently moving the American debate. Brutal police violence that ends once more with the death of an African American. Angry protests that are spreading rapidly across the country despite contact restrictions in the corona pandemic. There is also a president who pours fuel on the fire with his tweets, which Twitter then provides with a warning about glorifying violence. And a CNN team led by a black reporter who is arrested on camera while reporting on the protests.
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The unrest was triggered by a ten-minute video that an eyewitness recorded on her cell phone. It shows how the policeman Derek C. kneels on Floyd’s neck for several minutes, although the 46-year-old begs for help several times before he loses consciousness. Floyd died shortly afterwards in a nearby hospital. .
The officer kneeling on Floyd has been in police custody since Friday
The four police officers involved were released, but initially neither arrested nor charged. On Friday, C., who according to the US media had already attracted attention several times in the past, was arrested. Prosecutor Mike Freeman said he was charged with murder. He assumed that the other three former police officers would also be charged.
His agency has never brought an indictment so quickly in a comparable case, it usually takes several months, Freeman said. He admitted that the protests played a role in this. “I am not insensitive to what happens on the streets.”
Previously, not only the demonstrators, but also police in other cities had demanded that the incident must have consequences. Washington Police Chief Peter Newsham said the officer’s actions were “nothing more than murder”.
The fact that a CNN team was briefly arrested on Friday night exacerbated the displeasure. The journalists are at large again, and Minnesota Governor Tim Walz has apologized.
The National Guard was mobilized
Because the protests are escalating, Walz mobilized the National Guard on Thursday and declared a state of emergency for the region. His order stated that peaceful demonstrations were still allowed.
So far, the 500 or so soldiers have not intervened, although a police station that had previously been evacuated was stormed and set on fire during the night. Dozens of shops were also looted and some were set on fire.
“There is a lot of pain and anger in our city right now. I understand that, our whole city recognizes that, “said Minneapolis’ Mayor Jacob Frey on Friday night. But the looting is unacceptable.
In other US cities, too, people took to the streets to protest racist police violence, such as Denver, New York, Louisville and Phoenix. Most of the protests were peaceful, and there were occasional violent riots.
Trump attacks the Mayor of Minneapolis
On Thursday night, President Donald Trump used the scenes in Minneapolis as an opportunity to accuse the Democratic mayor of “lack of leadership”. “Either the very weak mayor of the Radical Left, Jacob Frey, gets the curve and controls the city, or I send the National Guard in and do the job properly.”
The National Guard is part of the army reserve and is under the leadership of a state in peacetime. The President can mobilize them in national emergencies. Frey rejected the criticism: “It is weakness to point your finger at someone else in a crisis.”
The president cites an old threat
With another tweet, Trump then caused great outrage. “I just spoke to Governor Tim Walz and told him that the military is on his side. If there is trouble we will take control, but when the looting begins, the shooting will begin, ”Trump tweeted. “These thugs dishonor the memory of George Floyd, and I won’t let that happen.”
Shortly thereafter, Twitter provided the tweet with a warning because the post violated the prohibition of glorifying violence. The tweet can only be read when this notice is clicked.
The online magazine Slate pointed out that the phrase, “When the looting begins, the shooting begins” was quoted from a threat Miami’s Police Chief Walter Headley used in 1967 to use dogs and rifles in the city’s race riot to justify.
Trump held back at first, now he’s escalating
It is hardly surprising that the president, who initially expressed himself very cautiously on the matter and announced investigations, is now additionally heating up the mood. Again and again Trump was accused of downplaying right-wing violence or even calling for it.
After the right-wing extremist protests in Charlottesville / Virginia three years ago, he declared that “a lot of decent people” had also taken part. He recently encouraged armed militias to protest against exit restrictions in the corona crisis in their state capitals.
The pandemic, which has resulted in more than 100,000 deaths in America and over 40 million lost their jobs, is putting the president under pressure. In the election year, he increasingly chooses a strategy that deepens the division of the country.
At a press conference scheduled at short notice on Friday afternoon, Trump made no mention of Minneapolis and ended the event in the rose garden of the White House after just under ten minutes. He did not take any questions and only commented on China, Hong Kong and the coronavirus pandemic. He announced that the US would end its cooperation with the World Health Organization – another extremely controversial step.
Civil rights activist Al Sharpton called for nationwide protests on Saturday
Eddie Glaude, Dean of the Chair of African American Studies at Princeton, told MSNBC that the violence that has now broken out shows the deep distrust of the government and police at a time when the US is battling a pandemic that has left widespread unemployment and death toll have. Despair threatens to get out of hand.
Civil rights activist Al Sharpton called for nationwide protests on Saturday. At the location of Floyd’s arrest, he requested that the police be charged. “We’re not asking for a favor. We want justice. “
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