{"id":14855,"date":"2020-05-31T11:13:56","date_gmt":"2020-05-31T06:13:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.vosa.tv\/?p=14855"},"modified":"2020-05-31T11:51:02","modified_gmt":"2020-05-31T06:51:02","slug":"us-i-cant-breathe-protests-continue-for-fifth-day","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.vosa.tv\/eng\/archives\/14855","title":{"rendered":"US: ‘I can’t breathe’ protests continue for fifth day"},"content":{"rendered":"

WASHINGTON<\/strong><\/p>\n

Protests continued Saturday for a fifth straight day in parts of the US in response to the death of George Floyd, an unarmed black man who died after being pinned down by a former white police officer.<\/p>\n

In the nation’s capital, the focal point was the vicinity of Lafayette Park across from the White House, where thousands of people, including whites and Muslims, gathered late Saturday.<\/p>\n

Protestors chanted “I can’t breathe,” “Black Lives Matter,” and “No Justice, No Peace,” among others, for a second night in row. Six arrests were made during protests Friday night, according to US Secret Service.<\/p>\n

Demonstrators breached security barricades, hurled water bottles at police and shouted slogans against President Donald Trump.<\/p>\n

The DC National Guard stepped in to assist Park Police and Secret Service after more protestors flocked to the scene. Police used tear gas to push back protestors.<\/p>\n

The first protests erupted after Floyd, 46, died after Derek Chauvin knelt on his neck during a fatal arrest in Minneapolis, Minnesota on Monday.<\/p>\n

Chauvin, 44, was arrested Friday and charged with third-degree murder and second-degree manslaughter but that did not quell anger regarding police brutality and violence.<\/p>\n

Three other police officers, who were involved in Floyd\u2019s death, whose last words were: “I can’t breathe,” were fired along with Chauvin but have not been charged.<\/p>\n

– Demand for justice<\/p>\n

Protesters are demanding the arrest of the other three officers and justice for Floyd as well as an end to police brutality against blacks.<\/p>\n

Saturday’s protests spread to California, New York, Texas, Massachusetts, Kentucky, Georgia, Illinois, Michigan, and Washington states, among others.<\/p>\n

National Guard soldiers have been activated in some states.<\/p>\n

After protests in Texas, Governor Gregg Abbott activated the National Guard, saying in a statement “violence and looting will not be tolerated.”<\/p>\n

In more than 30 cities including Los Angeles, Chicago, Atlanta and Seattle, authorities imposed curfews in hopes of quelling violent protests.<\/p>\n

In New York City, protesters marched in Harlem and blocked traffic on the highway along Manhattan\u2019s East River, according to multiple reports.<\/p>\n

New York Police Department reportedly made more than 200 arrests following Friday night\u2019s protests.<\/p>\n

In Nashville, police imposed a curfew Saturday after protests turned violent and City Hall was set on fire, according to a Tennessean news website.<\/p>\n

– Peaceful protestors<\/p>\n

Besides those that turned violent, there were peaceful protests. In Minneapolis, a group of demonstrators cleaned streets devastated by clashes between police and protestors.<\/p>\n

Earlier in the day, Governor Tim Walz said the violent protests are “no longer” about Floyd and fully mobilized the state’s National Guard.<\/p>\n

His decision came a day after protestors ignored a mandatory curfew in Minneapolis and St. Paul, that saw demonstrators clash with police and burned private property.<\/p>\n

Separately, the mayors of the twin cities told reporters most of the violent protesters were not residents of Minneapolis and St. Paul.<\/p>\n

“We’ve seen community institutions set on fire. And I want to be very, very clear. The people that are doing this are not Minneapolis residents,” Mayor Jacob Frey told a press briefing Saturday.<\/p>\n

Trump said Floyd’s memory is being dishonored with rioters, looters and anarchists.<\/p>\n

Speaking at Kennedy Space Center in Florida, he said: “What we are now seeing on the streets of our cities has nothing to do with justice or peace.”<\/p>\n

Since Thursday, several stores in Minneapolis and Dallas were looted and arson have been reported.<\/p>\n

Floyd’s death has strong parallels to that of Eric Garner, who died during a fatal 2014 arrest in New York, repeatedly pleading with officers, “I can’t breathe.”<\/p>\n

The phrase became a rallying point for protesters demonstrating against the killings of unarmed black men and women by police. It has continued to resonate nearly six years later.<\/p>\n

Read also<\/p>\n

https:\/\/www.vosa.tv\/trump-to-review-report-on-george-floyds-death\/<\/a><\/p>\n

https:\/\/www.vosa.tv\/us-4-officers-fired-after-black-man-dies-in-custody\/<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

WASHINGTON Protests continued Saturday for a fifth straight day in parts of the US in response to the death of George Floyd, an unarmed black man who died after being pinned down by a former white police officer. In the nation’s capital, the focal point was the vicinity of Lafayette Park across from the White […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":14864,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[31,1378],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-14855","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","category-us"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vosa.tv\/eng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14855","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vosa.tv\/eng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vosa.tv\/eng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vosa.tv\/eng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vosa.tv\/eng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=14855"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.vosa.tv\/eng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14855\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":14856,"href":"https:\/\/www.vosa.tv\/eng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14855\/revisions\/14856"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vosa.tv\/eng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/14864"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vosa.tv\/eng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=14855"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vosa.tv\/eng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=14855"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vosa.tv\/eng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=14855"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}