The Latest: Volunteers clean up broken glass in Chicago
Columbia Basin Herald | UPDATED 4 years, 7 months AGO
The Latest on the death in Minneapolis of George Floyd, a handcuffed black man who pleaded for air as a white police officer pressed a knee on his neck:
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CHICAGO — Volunteers are cleaning up broken glass and debris in downtown Chicago after a night of tense protests nationwide over George Floyd’s death.
Demonstrations that started out peacefully Saturday gave way to violence and destruction around the city, prompting Mayor Lori Lightfoot to order a 9 p.m. to 6 a.m. curfew indefinitely and city officials to raise bridges to limit access to Chicago’s business core.
At least four people were shot amid the chaos, including one fatally. Chicago police say there were “multiple” arrests, but could not immediately offer more specific details.
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WASHINGTON — Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms says she doesn’t have confidence in the U.S. Justice Department to fully investigate the recent killing of Ahmaud Arbery in Georgia as a civil rights crime.
Bottoms tells CBS’ “Face the Nation” she is hopeful that appropriate charges will be brought and prosecuted if not by the Justice Department then the state of Georgia.
Arbery was killed Feb. 23 when a white father and son armed themselves and pursued the 25-year-old black man after spotting him running in their neighborhood. More than two months passed before Gregory McMichael, 64, and Travis McMichael, 34, were arrested on charges of felony murder and aggravated assault.
Bottoms said Sunday: “I don’t have faith in this Justice Department, but if this Justice Department does what it was created to do, then justice will be served. But we also have the backstop of the state of Georgia.”
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WASHINGTON — The mayors of Washington D.C. and Atlanta say President Donald Trump should start showing leadership on race relations following the death of George Floyd — or consider not saying anything at all.
D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser chided Trump for tweets over the weekend in which he said the Secret Service was ready to send “vicious dogs” on protesters outside the White House. She says government and communities need to acknowledge the hurt and anger people are feeling, not “hearken to the segregationist part of our country.”
Floyd, a black man, died last week after an arresting officer in Minneapolis pushed his knee into his neck while he was on the ground handcuffed.
Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms says Trump needs to show a “genuine care and concern for our communities.”
Pointing to his past comments following deadly white supremacist protests in Charlottesville, Virginia, Bottoms says Trump is again making the situation worse by threatening military action to quell protests.
She says: “He should just sometimes stop talking.”
Bowser and Bottoms appeared on NBC, and Bottoms also spoke on CBS.
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MINNEAPOLIS — People gathered Sunday morning with brooms and flowers at the intersection where George Floyd was killed.
After police dispersed the crowd on Saturday night with tear gas, many said it was important to come back and protect what they called a “sacred space.” The intersection was blocked with the traffic cones while a ring of flowers was laid out.
Angela Conley, the county commissioner for district 4, showed up shortly after curfew was over to clean up, saying that police had trampled flowers and photos of Floyd.
“The community needs healing and what happened last night only exacerbated the pain that’s been felt,” she said of police action.
Conley felt the demonstrations and confrontations with police would continue until the other three officers on scene when Floyd was killed were arrested and prosecuted.
“We’ll continue to have this militarized presence in our community until justice is done,” she said.
Meanwhile, a church located at the intersection set up chairs for an outdoor service.
Tracy Gordon, who is part of the ministry team at the church called Worldwide Outreach for Christ, said, “I feel it is very important to bring some hope to the community and let everyone know that God is in control.”
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Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison says he’s “standing behind the process at this point,” when asked about calls to appoint him as a special prosecutor in the George Floyd case.
Floyd’s family, as well as several Minneapolis City Council members, have called on Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz to hand the case to Ellison, who is black. The council members say they do not believe Hennepin County Attorney Mike Freeman, who is white, has the public trust necessary for the job. Freeman has charged now-fired officer Derek Chauvin with third-degree murder in Floyd’s death. The council members say Freeman waited too long in bringing charges.
In an interview on Fox News Sunday, Ellison avoided criticizing Freeman and suggested additional charges and additional defendants may be added to the case.
“I don’t want anyone to conclude that these are all the charges that are going to be there,” he said, as he repeated calls for patience “if you want to make sure that this case results in a successful prosecution.”
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MADISON, Wis. — Hundreds of volunteers gathered early Sunday morning in downtown Madison, Wisconsin, to clean up damage from a night of violence that included setting a police squad car on fire, looting and breaking windows at dozens of stores and an art museum.
More than a thousand people gathered for a peaceful protest Saturday afternoon, but a smaller group of around 150 turned violent later, throwing rocks at police, who were in riot gear and fired tear gas to disperse the crowd.
Police said Sunday that 75 stores were damaged or looted overnight and three people were arrested. One police officer was injured, but protective equipment prevented more serious injuries, acting Police Chief Victor Wahl said in a blog post.
One Madison police cruiser was broken into, driven a short distance, then set on fire, police said. Two rifles were stolen from the car, police said.
A Madison police armored rescue vehicle was hit by a bullet and multiple small fires were set and extinguished in the area.
Madison Mayor Satya Rhodes-Conway declared a state of emergency and imposed a 9:30 p.m. Sunday curfew in downtown Madison where the violence occurred.
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LOS ANGELES — Armed National Guard soldiers patrolled the streets of Los Angeles early Sunday as the city began cleaning up after a night of violence that saw demonstrators clash repeatedly with officers, torch police vehicles and pillage businesses.
A rare citywide curfew expired as dawn revealed broken shop windows, demolished security gates and graffiti along entire blocks.
Mayor Eric Garcetti said Saturday he asked Gov. Gavin Newsom for 500 to 700 members of the Guard to assist the 10,000 Los Angeles Police Department officers.
Garcetti said the Guard members who arrived early Sunday were summoned “to support our local response to maintain peace and safety on the streets of our city.”
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LONDON — Thousands gathered in London’s Trafalgar Square to express their outrage over George Floyd’s death in Minnesota.
Demonstrators clapped and waved placards as they offered support to U.S. demonstrators.
The crowd gathered despite government rules barring crowds because of the COVID-19 pandemic.
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ATLANTA — Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp is expanding a state of emergency to authorize the deployment of up to 3,000 National Guard troops to protests in cities across the state.
Kemp said he was prepared to send Guard soldiers to Athens, Savannah and any other Georgia cities where demonstrations were planned Sunday.
“Hopefully we don’t have to,” the Republican governor told WSB-TV late Saturday.
Kemp had already approved up to 1,500 Guardsmen to help enforce a 9 p.m. Saturday curfew in Atlanta.
Atlanta police said in a statement late Saturday they had made more than 50 arrests as protesters threw rocks at officers and broke windows in the downtown area. The curfew was imposed after demonstrations Friday night turned violent with people setting fires and smashing windows at businesses and restaurants.
“The protesters need to know we’re going to support their efforts in a peaceful, nonviolent protest,” Kemp said. “The agitators need to know that we’ll be there ... to take them to jail if they’re destroying lives and property.”
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LA MESA, Calif. — The quaint downtown of suburban La Mesa near San Diego has suffered major damage with Chase and Union banks next door to each other burned to the ground.
Windows were smashed at many businesses, including a Goodwill store, a Sotheby’s real estate office and a popular bar.
San Diego police officers, aided by other law enforcement agencies, walked shoulder to shoulder through the streets after 2 a.m. Sunday, telling hundreds of protesters and observers that they would be arrested for unlawful assembly if they didn’t disperse.
The east San Diego suburb of 60,000 people borders El Cajon, where the fatal shooting of an unarmed black man by a police officer triggered days of major unrest in 2016.
The La Mesa protest that began peacefully Saturday afternoon and turned increasingly violent as night fell.
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FERGUSON, Mo. — Mostly peaceful protests took a turn late Saturday in Ferguson, Missouri, where police said at least six officers were injured after they were hit with rocks and fireworks.
The St. Louis Post-Dispatch reports that police used tear gas to disperse a large group of protesters who had set off fireworks inside Ferguson police headquarters.
Gov. Mike Parson activated the Missouri National Guard late Saturday.
Earlier in the day, Ferguson Police Chief Jason Armstrong spoke to a group of about 500 peaceful protesters about how Michael Brown Jr.’s death was a “wake-up call to law enforcement.” The 18-year-old Brown, who was black, was shot and killed by a white Ferguson police officer in 2014, sparking a wave of protests throughout the country.
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RICHMOND, Va. — Photos on social media show several fires throughout downtown Richmond overnight as protests in the Virginia capital continued.
The Richmond Times-Dispatch reports that the headquarters of the nearby United Daughters of the Confederacy burned early Sunday and was marked with graffiti. Several Confederate statues along the city’s Monument Avenue were defaced with graffiti.
The newspaper reports that an apartment building on a downtown street also caught fire, but protesters initially wouldn't let fire crews through until police cleared the area with tear gas.
Protesters targeted police headquarters for the second night in a row as officers formed a barricade around the building.
A dumpster was set afire near the police headquarters, which had its front windows broken out Friday night. The Richmond Times-Dispatch reported that the police fired tear gas to move crowds away from the building.
Several blocks away near Virginia Commonwealth University hundreds of protesters blocked streets chanting “George Floyd,” referring to the black man who died Monday after an arresting officer in Minneapolis pushed his knee into Floyd’s neck while he was on the ground handcuffed.
Media reports showed video of protesters hurling what appeared to be water bottles at a police car, which moved through the crowd and sped away. A police cruiser was burned in the violence on Friday night, along with a city bus.
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San Francisco Mayor London Breed has declared a citywide curfew for Sunday night as violent protests rage throughout the city in the aftermath of George Floyd’s death.
Breed says the curfew will last from 8 p.m. on Sunday to 5 a.m. on Monday.
The mayor says she has asked Gov. Gavin Newsom to put the California National Guard on standby.
Authorities say there have been increased levels of violence, crime, vandalism and assaults on police officers Saturday night as the protests took a dark turn.
Los Angeles is already under a citywide curfew overnight and the National Guard is en route to help police quell the violence.