As America sees another night of
protests and curfews, families of those killed plea for no more violence
On the day the brother of George Floyd and mother of Breonna
Taylor called for protesters to abstain from violence, demonstrations continued
in the wake of the Floyd's death last week.
Curfews have
been announced again in New York, Philadelphia, Washington, Atlanta, Chicago
and Los Angeles. Amid the tension and faceoffs were scenes of police officers
kneeling with protesters.
Latest developments
• In New York,
where there is an 11 p.m. ET curfew, protests have largely remained peaceful,
but there have been pockets of looters in Manhattan.
• Across the
street from the White House, demonstrators gathered again in Lafayette Square.
Video showed heavy smoke from tear gas in the crowd of hundreds of people.
Officers, some on horseback, moved protesters off one street ahead of President
Trump's walk to a historic church where there was a fire in the basement
overnight.
• Before posing for photos in
front of St. John's Church, Trump spoke in the Rose Garden, calling himself
"your president of law and order" and an ally of all peaceful
protesters.
• A large crowd packed the
street in front of the Minnesota governor's residence in St. Paul. The group
then moved to the state Capitol, about three miles away.
• National Guard troops and
Atlanta police officers swept through downtown, pushing out the protesters
Monday when a 9 p.m. curfew went into effect. A CNN producer saw protesters
hurling projectiles after the curfew came; police responded with tear gas. At
least 52 people had been arrested as of 8 p.m. ET, police said.
• Minnesota Attorney General
Keith Ellison told CNN's Chris Cuomo that "we plan on taking the proper
and deliberate action" against the three officers at the scene of George
Floyd's death who were not charged after carefully investigating their
behavior. He said "that won't be long from now."
Autopsies
find Floyd's death was a homicide
Floyd's death on May 25 was
caused by what the police officers did to him, an independent
autopsy and attorneys for the family say.
Floyd, 46, died a week ago
after a now-fired Minneapolis officer pressed his knee on Floyd's neck for
8 minutes, 46 seconds. His final words included "Mama" and "I
can't breathe." A video of the incident shows two other officers helping
to hold down Floyd, who was on his stomach and was handcuffed.
"George died because he
needed a breath. He needed a breath of air," attorney Ben Crump
said. Floyd died from "asphyxiation from sustained pressure" --
a finding in the family-commissioned autopsy that is at odds with the medical
examiner.
Preliminary autopsy results
cited in a criminal complaint last week against one officer said combined
effects of being restrained, any potential intoxicants in Floyd's system and
his underlying health issues, including heart disease, probably contributed to
his death.
But on Monday, the medical
examiner's office in Hennepin County released the report that said Floyd's
death was a homicide resulting from being restrained.
The statement said that the
cause of death is "cardiopulmonary arrest complicating law enforcement
subdual, restrain, and neck compression." It further adds that Floyd died
from experiencing a "cardiopulmonary arrest while being restrained by law
enforcement officers."
Be
peaceful, families say
The brother of George
Floyd and mother of Breonna Taylor had a message for people who
are bringing violence to peaceful protests: You're doing nothing to help.
Terrence Floyd traveled from
New York to Minneapolis to the street where his brother died while being
arrested and called on people to stop smashing windows and setting things on
fire.
"If I'm not over here
wildin' out, If I'm not over here blowing up stuff, if I'm not over here
messing up my community, then what are y'all doing? What are y'all doing?"
he shouted Monday while surrounded by people gathered at the memorial site.
"Y'all doing nothing. Because That's not going to bring my brother back at
all."
In Louisville, where Taylor
was shot in her home by police, her mother, Tamika Palmer, asked for justice
while also pleading for calm demonstrations.
"We can't get justice
with violence. It doesn't make sense, it doesn't help," Palmer said.
"It doesn't help her, it doesn't help us, it doesn't help the world we
live in. You can't fight violence with violence."
Chauvin
court date moved
The former officer who pinned
Floyd to the ground, Derek Chauvin, was initially expected in court Monday. But
that appearance has been rescheduled for June 8.
Chauvin is charged with
third-degree murder and second-degree manslaughter.
If convicted, he faces up to
25 years in prison on the murder charge and up to 10 years on the manslaughter
charge.
23
states have activated the National Guard
More than 17,000 National
Guard members across the country are responding to civil disturbances in
support of local authorities, a National Guard official said Monday.
At least 23 states and
the District of Columbia have activated guard members.
In Long Beach, California,
some crowds defied the nightly curfew and began raiding and vandalizing stores
Sunday night.
The entire DC National Guard
-- about 1,350 members -- was called out Sunday night to assist police with
protests in the city after several fires were set, including in a church just
blocks from the White House.
An additional 600 to 800
National Guard members from five states have been requested to supplement the
DC National Guard, a defense official said Monday.
Officials
are investigating extremist groups
The FBI and other agencies
are tracking groups from both the extreme right and left that are involved
in the violence and attacks on police.
Federal law enforcement officials
said they're aware of organized groups who are seeking to carry out destruction
and violence using the cover of the legitimate protests in Minneapolis and
elsewhere.
Those domestic extremist
groups include anarchists, anti-government groups often associated with
far-right extremists and white supremacy causes, and far-left extremists who
identify with anti-fascist ideology.
In the past, some of the
groups have been known to organize and travel specifically to confront police
and destroy property, federal law enforcement officials said.
Minnesota officials said
white supremacists and others were mixing in with legitimate protestors.
Authorities there are looking at connections between those arrested and white
supremacist organizers who have posted online about coming to Minnesota.
On Sunday, President Trump
tweeted that the US will designate Antifa as a terrorist organization --
though experts say that might not be constitutional.
Antifa, short for
anti-fascists, describes a broad group of people whose political beliefs lean
toward the left -- often the far left -- but do not conform with the Democratic
Party platform.
Acting Senate Intelligence
Chairman Marco Rubio, a Florida Republican, said outsiders included "a
rogues gallery of terrorists from Antifa to 'Boogaloo' groups encouraging and
committing violence." Boogaloo is a group often associated with far-right
extremist ideology that wants to initiate a civil war.
"Many of these professional
agitators don't fit a simple left vs right identity," Rubio said.
"They are part of a growing anti-government extremist movement. They hate
law enforcement & want to tear the whole system down even if it requires a
new civil war."'
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