Protesters set fire to police building
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During third night of protests, a police station in Minneapolis set on fire. Protesters broke windows and climbed over the fence while officers retreated having fired projectiles. Images showed officers abandoning the department as protesters celebrated, posing for images in front of the flames.
Minnesota’s governor Tim Walz activated the National Guard to help police restore order against protests. Mr Walz asked Guard troops to assist police as local, state and federal law enforcement officials sought to ease racial tensions sparked by Monday night’s fatal arrest by vowing to achieve justice in the case. Four city police officers, Derek Chauvin, Thomas Lane, Tou Thao and J Alexander Kueng involved in the incident were fired from their jobs the next day.
The death of George Floyd is monitory of the 2014 killing of Eric Garner, an unarmed black man in New York City who died after being put in a banned police chokehold.
Separately, hundreds of demonstrators hang around the police station and Target discount store that were the centre of running clashes Wednesday night between rock-throwing protesters and riot police firing tear gas and rubber bullets. A car in the Target car park was set ablaze. Both gatherings began with little police presence and no immediate sign of National Guard troops.
At a morning news briefing, Police Chief Medaria Arradondo apologized to George Floyd’s family, admiting his department had contributed to a “deficit of hope” in Minnesota’s largest city. Then hours later, officials overseeing investigations from the U.S. Justice Department, FBI, Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension and local prosecutors appealed for calm at a joint news conference, as they gathered evidence.
In a sign the Floyd case had garnered international attention, the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights Michelle Bachelet urged U.S. ive racial discrimination” in America’s criminal justice system.
Then Police department records show 18 internal affairs complaints filed against Chauvin, 16 of which were closed without discipline. The veteran officer allegedly tried to kill another black man, Ira Latrell Toles, during a domestic violence call in 2008.
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