Mayors of major cities imposed curfews and governors mobilized state National Guard in an effort to keep the peace overnight but tensions boiled over.
Hundreds of people were arrested as protesters and police clashed in cities across America after the killing of George Floyd, an unarmed black man, at the hands of Minneapolis police sparked more than 100 protests, rallies and vigils over the weekend, according to NBC News. Mayors of major cities from Los Angeles to Philadelphia to Atlanta imposed curfews and at least 12 states as well as Washington, D. C. activated National Guard troops in an effort to keep the peace overnight, but protests in several cities descended into violence again as tensions boiled over.
Derek Chauvin, the officer filmed kneeling on Floyd’s neck, was arrested and charged with murder and manslaughter.
This is CNBC’s live blog covering all the latest news on the demonstrations gripping the U. S. This blog will be updated throughout the day as the news breaks.
10:49 a.m. ET — House Speaker Nancy Pelosi backed the nationwide protests against racism and police brutality spurred by the killing of George Floyd and criticized the president’s handling of the situation.
“There’s a place for protest at a sign of a knee going into the neck of a person who’s not offering resistance or even if he were, disproportionate response from the police,” Pelosi said on ABC’s “This Week.”
Pelosi said the president should bring dignity to the office and “unify our country and not to fuel the flame.”
“To take his bait time and time again is just a gift to him because he always wants to divert attention from what the cause of the response was rather than to describe it in his own terms,” Pelosi said.
10:10 a.m. ET — Melvin Carter, mayor of St. Paul, Minnesota, said on CNN’s “State of the Union” that proof of progress on police reform would be more helpful to quelling the protests in his city than additional help from the National Guard.
“The thing that I think would help us more than military support is some assurance across our country that we possess a legal and judicial system that has the capacity and the capability to hold someone accountable when something this blatant, something this disgusting, something this well-documented happens in plain view for all of us to see,” Carter said.
Carter said laws and police union contracts are among the things that need to change to hold police accountable. The mayor also said that he wanted to see the other officers involved in George Floyd’s death to be held accountable, but he did not say if he thought they should be charged with murder.
Over 170 businesses have been damaged in the city during the demonstrations so far.
