Unrest Continues From Coast to Coast

Pickup truck drives through Tallahassee protesters
By Newser Editors and Wire Services
Posted May 31, 2020 12:09 AM CDT
Unrest Continues From Coast to Coast
A protester vents at a line of Tucson Police Officers in riot gear at Cushing Street and Church Avenue early on Saturday, May 30, 2020 in Tucson.   (Josh Galemore/Arizona Daily Star via AP)

Tense protests over the death of George Floyd and other police killings of black men grew Saturday from New York to Tulsa to Los Angeles, with police cars set ablaze and reports of injuries mounting on all sides during another night of unrest after months of coronavirus lockdowns. The protests, which began in Minneapolis following Floyd's death Monday after a police officer pressed a knee on his neck for more than eight minutes, have left parts of the city a grid of broken windows, burned-out buildings, and ransacked stores, the AP reports. The unrest has since become a national phenomenon as protesters decry years of deaths at police hands. More:

  • In Philadelphia, at least 13 officers were injured when peaceful protests turned violent and at least four police vehicles were set on fire. Other fires were set throughout downtown.

  • In the Greenwood District of Tulsa, Oklahoma, the site of a 1921 massacre of black people that left as many as 300 dead and the city’s thriving black district in ruins, protesters blocked intersections and chanted the name of Terence Crutcher, a black man killed by a police officer in 2016.
  • In Tallahassee, Florida, a pickup truck drove through a crowd of protesters, sending some running and screaming as the vehicle stopped and started and at one point had a person on its hood, police said, but no serious injuries were reported. Police handcuffed the driver but did not release his name or say whether he would face charges.
  • In Los Angeles, protesters chanted "Black Lives Matter," some within inches of the face shields of officers. Police used batons to move the crowd back and fired rubber bullets. One man used a skateboard to try to break a police SUV's windshield. A spray-painted police car burned in the street.
  • In Washington, DC, growing crowds outside the White House chanted, taunted Secret Service agents and other law enforcement officers, and at times pushed against security barriers. President Trump, who spent much of Saturday in Florida for the SpaceX rocket launch, landed on the residence's lawn in the presidential helicopter at dusk and went inside without speaking to journalists.
  • In New York City, video posted to social media showed officers using batons and shoving protesters down as they made arrests and cleared streets. Another video showed two NYPD cruisers driving into protesters who were pushing a barricade against a police car and pelting it with objects, knocking several to the ground.
  • In Minneapolis,state troopers and National Guard members moved in to break up protests after an 8pm curfew took effect, firing tear gas and rubber bullets to clear streets outside a police precinct and elsewhere. The show of force came after three days where police mostly declined to engage with protesters. It also came after the state poured in more than 4,000 National Guard members and said the number would soon rise to nearly 11,000.
More than a dozen other major cities nationwide imposed overnight curfews ranging from 6 pm in parts of South Carolina to 10pm around Ohio. People were also told to be off the streets of Atlanta, Denver, Los Angeles, Seattle and Minneapolis — where thousands ignored the same order the previous night. (More George Floyd stories.)

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