US Police Violence Against US Protesters | George Floyd Protests 2020

Five police officers were reportedly shot during clashes in US cities as protesters and looters defied curfews amid continued violence in the wake of the killing of George Floyd, a black man, in police custody.

Four police officers were shot in St Louis, Missouri, as authorities struggled to regain control of the city’s streets late into Monday evening. The officers, who were being treated for non-life-threatening injuries in hospital, were hit by gunfire as they stood next to a police line during violent disorder, said the chief of police, John Hayden.

People had been throwing rocks and fireworks, and had tried to throw petrol at officers, he added. “As we speak we are trying to get control of the city.”

In Nevada, a police officer was shot near the Las Vegas Strip, the Associated Press reported. There were no details on the officer’s condition. Authorities were also responding to a second separate shooting in the area, the AP said.

Two people were killed in Cicero, a Chicago suburb, according to the AP. Ray Hanania, a municipal official, told the news agency that 60 people in the town had been arrested, but did not give further details on the deaths.

The violence escalated after Donald Trump on Monday threatened to send American soldiers on to the streets to quell the worst unrest since the 1960s. As the US president was speaking, police fired tear gas and rubber bullets at protesters who were demonstrating peacefully in Lafayette Square, a park in front of the White House.

Mr Trump then strode across the cleared area to St John’s Episcopal Church, where he posed for pictures holding a Bible, in a move critics condemned as a publicity stunt.

Mr Trump said on Twitter on Tuesday morning that there had been “no problems” in Washington the previous night. “Many arrests. Great job done by all. Overwhelming force. Domination.”

Joe Biden, the former Democratic vice-president who will challenge Mr Trump in November, on Tuesday said Floyd’s final words of “I can’t breathe” should serve as a “wake-up call for our nation”.

“They speak to a nation where too often just the colour of your skin puts your life at risk,” Mr Biden said. “It’s time to listen to these words, understand them, and respond to them with real action.”

Mr Biden was speaking in Philadelphia. Much of the downtown area in the city, which is the site of his campaign headquarters, has been shut following clashes between protesters and police.

He also slammed Mr Trump over the use of tear gas on peaceful demonstrators near the White House on Monday.

“When peaceful protesters are dispersed by the order of the president . . . in order to stage a photo op at a noble church, we can be forgiven for believing that the president is more interested in power than in principle,” Mr Biden said.

After the coronavirus emergency and its devastating economic fallout, which has left more than 100,000 Americans dead and 40m out of work, the protests — the most widespread since the civil rights era — have created another crisis for Mr Trump five months before the election.

Since Floyd’s death in Minneapolis last week, the president has been criticised for appearing to incite violence against demonstrators.

New York ordered residents home by 11pm on Monday, the first time a curfew had been imposed on the city in 70 years. But about 1,000 protesters remained on the streets past the deadline, with looting taking place in the glitzy midtown district. Another curfew is set to begin at 8pm on Tuesday.

“Protesters were overwhelmingly peaceful today and cops respected their right to speak out,” wrote New York City mayor Bill de Blasio on Twitter. “But some people tonight had nothing to do with the cause and stole and damaged instead. That we won’t allow.”

Elsewhere in the state, two police officers in Buffalo were injured after a car was driven through a police line. Mark Poloncarz, Erie County’s executive, wrote on Twitter that the two officers were “allegedly in stable condition” after the incident.

In Louisville, Kentucky, tear gas was used to disperse several hundred people in the downtown area. A march had been held in the city to demonstrate against the death of barbecue restaurant owner David McAtee, who was shot and killed by police on Monday morning.

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