Demonstrators collided with police, looted stores and set fires as a man was fatally shot during the second night of protests in the US city of Minneapolis Wednesday over the killing of a black man by a police officer.
Police fired tear gas and formed a human barricade to keep protesters from climbing a fence surrounding the Third Precinct, where the officers accused of killing George Floyd worked before they were fired on Tuesday, AFP reported.
Outrage has spread across the country at Floyd’s death on Monday, fed in part by bystander cellphone video which shows him, handcuffed and in the custody of four white police officers, on the ground while one presses his knee into the victim’s neck.
President Donald Trump in a tweet called Floyd’s death “sad and tragic”, and all four officers have been fired, as prosecutors said they had called in the FBI to help investigate the case. AFP added
Minneapolis police chief Medaria Arradondo advised protestors Wednesday to remain peaceful.
Police continued to hold the crowds back from scaling a fence into the precinct’s parking lot, where their cruisers contain guns.
As the violence escalated, with more businesses looted, a man was shot near the protests and later died, police said. A person has been arrested.
Protesters remained peaceful at two other locations in the city.
At the place where Floyd was first taken into custody, people chanted and carried placards and sent out bouquets were set out as tributes to Floyd.
Calls for justice came from around the country.
“I would like those officers to be charged with murder because that’s exactly what they did,” Bridgett Floyd, the victim’s sister, said on NBC television.
“They murdered my brother… They should be in jail for murder.”
Protesters marched on downtown Los Angeles and briefly blocked the 101 Freeway.
According to AFP, Some demonstrators broke the windows of two police highway patrol cruisers, climbing on the hood of one of the vehicles. One of the protesters was wounded when they dropped off the vehicle as it sped away.
Minneapolis mayor Jacob Frey said he could not understand why the officer who held his knee to Floyd’s neck on a Minneapolis street until the 46-year-old restaurant worker went limp has not been arrested.
“Why is the man who killed George Floyd, not in jail? If you had done it, or I had done it, we would be behind bars right now,” Frey said.
What's happening in Tunisia?
Subscribe to our Youtube channel for updates.
