Protests continue in Minnesota over George Floyd's death скачать в хорошем качестве

Protests continue in Minnesota over George Floyd's death

MINNEAPOLIS — Tensions continue to mount on night three of sustained demonstrations across the Twin Cities metro following the death of George Floyd in Minneapolis. While most of the protests have been peaceful, both honoring the late Floyd and the social justice movement, some factions have left vandalism, fires and looting in their wake. People rioting have breached the Minneapolis Police Department's Third Precinct and set the building on fire as of reports coming in around 10:30 p.m. Thursday night. Minneapolis Police Spokesperson John Elder said in a statement that they had evacuated staff from the building due to safety concerns shortly after 10 p.m. According to Elder, "Protesters forcibly entered the building and have ignited several fires." Reporter Danny Spewak described the facility surrounded by flames on Twitter. The City of Minneapolis put out a tweet Thursday warning citizens to stay away from MPD's Third Precinct building, citing unconfirmed reports of cut gas lines and explosive materials in the building. Weighing in on Twitter, President Trump blamed the emergent social disturbance on a lack of local leadership, and threatened to send in the federal National Guard unless the city was brought under control. The president went on to tweet, "These THUGS are dishonoring the memory of George Floyd, and I won’t let that happen. Just spoke to Governor Tim Walz and told him that the Military is with him all the way. Any difficulty and we will assume control but, when the looting starts, the shooting starts. Thank you!" Responding to the president's tweet during a 1 a.m. press conference on Friday morning, Mayor Frey said, "Weakness is refusing to take responsibility for your own actions. Weakness is pointing fingers at someone else ... we are strong ... you better be damn sure we're going to get through this." Frey said rioting posed an imminent threat to the safety of the officers and staffers within MPD's Third Precinct, forcing him to make the decision to evacuate the compound. “Symbolism of a building cannot outweigh the importance of life or the public,” Frey said. “We could not risk serious injury to anyone … brick and mortar is not as important as life.” The Mayor went on to say that the people of the Third Precinct could continue to expect to see a police presence, and that public safety services and resources to the public would remain intact. However, he went on to say that progress during this crisis would not come from the government alone. “We additionally need help from the community. We need to make sure that people are looking out for our city right now. It's not just enough to do the right thing for yourself. We need to make sure that all of us are upholding the ideals that we stand by.” Although the mayor acknowledged the pain and frustration in recent days, he made it clear, the devastation is unacceptable. “What we have seen over the past couple of nights in terms of looting is unacceptable. These are businesses. These are community institutions that we need. These are banks that people rely on to get cash, grocery stores that people rely on to get food … We need to ensure that they are protected.” Frey said this is one of the most difficult situations the city of Minneapolis has ever been through, and that Minneapolis would pull through with a united front, stating both his chief of fire and chief of police have his 100% support. Earlier in the day, people had gathered at the intersection of 38th and Chicago in downtown Minneapolis at the scene of Floyd's death. In one location, Minneapolis artists worked to paint a mural of Floyd. "Hopefully, it’s a reminder that this should never happen again, and people need to step up in every way that they can to stand up against these corrupt systems," said Xena Goldman, one of the artists. In Minneapolis, a powerful moment occurred. An entire crowd just went silent, took a knee and raised a fist in remembrance of George Floyd. Elsewhere, shopkeepers and business owners were forced to clean up in the wake of vandalism and fires that were reported throughout the Twin Cities. In one of the many examples, Gus from Augie’s in downtown Minneapoils off Hennepin Avenue told KARE 11 protesters shattered a door to the BuzzMart despite their pleas. Luckily he says they, and some of the crowd, deterred anyone from entering. Business owners along Lake Street in south Minneapolis spent Thursday cleaning up debris and boarding up windows after a night of protests, fires, looting and damage. Some business owners in south Minneapolis spent the previous night trying to protect their businesses from looters. Thursday night as more destruction spread, some businesses placed signs in their windows letting people know