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Minneapolis city council pledges to dismantle police department in wake of George Floyd's killing – live Minneapolis city council pledges to dismantle police department in wake of George Floyd's killing – live
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Peaceful protests sweep US as calls for racial justice reach new heightsPeaceful protests sweep US as calls for racial justice reach new heights
Guardian contributor Jon Letman has this dispatch from Kauai, where demonstrators have turned out in a rural part of Hawaii over the weekend:
Hundreds gathered on Kauai on Saturday to express solidarity with the Black Lives Matter movement. Waving placards and chanting slogans denouncing police violence and racism, demonstrators reflected the diversity of Hawaii’s mostly Asian, Hawaiian, and Pacific Islander population.
Boisterous, but peaceful, protesters shouted “I can’t breathe!” as passing cars honked in support. Overhead, Hawaii’s state flag flew upside-down, signaling distress.
The only police present were six officers standing to the side on the steps of the county building as Kauai chief of police Todd Raybuck walked through the crowd talking with demonstrators.
Earlier in the morning, Raybuck had spoken at a “paddle-out” on Kauai’s north shore where hundreds had paddled surfboards into Hanalei Bay in a show of unity.
Although African Americans make up less than one percent of Kauai’s population, black demonstrators repeatedly described Kauai as “the best place they’d ever lived,” an island where community, respect, and tolerance were the norm.
One woman named Tsige Gesit said the Hawaiian spirit of aloha made Kauai different.
Native Hawaiian demonstrator, Peleke Flores, brought his small children to witness how kapu aloha (a philosophy and practice of nonviolent engagement) could be a positive force for change.
Raymond Catania, a local labor rights activist, was impassioned. “The Kanaka Maoli (Native Hawaiians) suffer with their lands taken away. Filipino and Micronesian workers are on the bottom… American capitalism does not work,” Catania said. “This is the beginning of the end of their system. It’s going take a while, but people are wising up.”
In Phoenix, Arizona, thousands showed up to march not just for George Floyd, but for Dion Johnson, a 28-year-old black man who was shot and killed by an Arizona Department of Public Safety officer in a “struggle” in which there are scant details.
The Guardian’s amazing voting rights editor Ankita Rao brings us more reporting from the protests in New York:
New York City saw more protests across the city today, with most expecting less tension with the New York Police Department after mayor Bill de Blasio lifted the 8pm curfew. The majority of the marches, including one with family and children and a meditation, were largely without incident.
But later in the evening, a small protest of about a hundred people made their way down Flatbush Avenue and then planned to cross the Manhattan Bridge on the pedestrian walkway. Like most protests, there was a group of protestors on bicycle at the front and back of the crowd. As protestors made their way, two or three protestors trailed behind, slowing down a long line of police vehicles going down the street, zig zagging on their bikes.
At one point, police officers exited the car with batons in hand before pushing the protestors on their back and chest, telling them to get on the sidewalk. At one point, a cop picked up a bicycle and threw it from a few inches away at the owner.
Hey there, Vivian Ho taking over the blog for Bryan Graham.
Protesters took to the streets in San Francisco and Oakland again on Sunday, some on foot and some on bicycle.
Barack Obama said that the nationwide protests following the recent deaths George Floyd and others were fueled from “decades worth of anguish, frustration, over unequal treatment and a failure to perform police practices” and issued a warning against “division and falsehoods” in a commencement speech during YouTube’s Dear Class of 2020 virtual ceremony.Barack Obama said that the nationwide protests following the recent deaths George Floyd and others were fueled from “decades worth of anguish, frustration, over unequal treatment and a failure to perform police practices” and issued a warning against “division and falsehoods” in a commencement speech during YouTube’s Dear Class of 2020 virtual ceremony.
The former US president spoke along with his wife, Michelle, on a bill that included Beyoncé, Katy Perry, K-pop titans BTS and Tampa Bay Buccaneers star quarterback Tom Brady.The former US president spoke along with his wife, Michelle, on a bill that included Beyoncé, Katy Perry, K-pop titans BTS and Tampa Bay Buccaneers star quarterback Tom Brady.
“Democracy isn’t about relying on some charismatic leader to make changes from on high,” Obama said. “It’s about finding hope in ourselves, and creating it in others. Especially in a time like this. You don’t always need hope when everything’s going fine. It’s when things seem darkest – that’s when you need it the most.”“Democracy isn’t about relying on some charismatic leader to make changes from on high,” Obama said. “It’s about finding hope in ourselves, and creating it in others. Especially in a time like this. You don’t always need hope when everything’s going fine. It’s when things seem darkest – that’s when you need it the most.”
He added: “In a lot of ways, the pandemic just brought into focus problems that have been growing for a very long time, whether it’s widening economic inequality, the lack of basic health care for millions of people, the continuing scourge of bigotry and sexism, or the divisions and dysfunction that plague our political system.He added: “In a lot of ways, the pandemic just brought into focus problems that have been growing for a very long time, whether it’s widening economic inequality, the lack of basic health care for millions of people, the continuing scourge of bigotry and sexism, or the divisions and dysfunction that plague our political system.
“As scary and uncertain these times may be, they are also a wake-up call. And they’re an incredible opportunity for your generation.”“As scary and uncertain these times may be, they are also a wake-up call. And they’re an incredible opportunity for your generation.”
CNN reports that White House officials are deliberating a plan for Donald Trump to address the nation on the racial tensions and civil unrest across the country in coming days, citing a senior administration official.CNN reports that White House officials are deliberating a plan for Donald Trump to address the nation on the racial tensions and civil unrest across the country in coming days, citing a senior administration official.
Housing and Urban Development secretary Ben Carson suggested as much on Sunday during an interview on CNN’s State of the Union when asked about the subject, saying: “I believe you’re going to be hearing from the president this week on this topic in some detail. And I would ask you maybe to reserve judgment until after that time.”Housing and Urban Development secretary Ben Carson suggested as much on Sunday during an interview on CNN’s State of the Union when asked about the subject, saying: “I believe you’re going to be hearing from the president this week on this topic in some detail. And I would ask you maybe to reserve judgment until after that time.”
After firing off tweets and retweets at a record-shattering clip to start the weekend, Trump has kept a relatively low profile on Sunday: posting a handful of boilerplate endorsements, retweeting his own previous musings for amplification’s sake, taking a shot at the New York Times and claiming: “I built the greatest economy in the World, the best the U.S. has ever had. I am doing it again!”After firing off tweets and retweets at a record-shattering clip to start the weekend, Trump has kept a relatively low profile on Sunday: posting a handful of boilerplate endorsements, retweeting his own previous musings for amplification’s sake, taking a shot at the New York Times and claiming: “I built the greatest economy in the World, the best the U.S. has ever had. I am doing it again!”
Trump’s most recent attempt at an Oval Office address at the outset of the coronavirus pandemic in March was widely panned even by some friendly outlets, with Daniel Larison of the American Conservative writing it “went over like a lead balloon”.Trump’s most recent attempt at an Oval Office address at the outset of the coronavirus pandemic in March was widely panned even by some friendly outlets, with Daniel Larison of the American Conservative writing it “went over like a lead balloon”.
Of course, Trump has also risen to the moment of a prime-time spotlight in the past. Even previously hostile CNN pundit and former Obama administration official Van Jones couldn’t help but gush after Trump’s first State of the Union address: “He became president of the United States in that moment, period.”Of course, Trump has also risen to the moment of a prime-time spotlight in the past. Even previously hostile CNN pundit and former Obama administration official Van Jones couldn’t help but gush after Trump’s first State of the Union address: “He became president of the United States in that moment, period.”
The Associated Press reports charges have been filed against a man in St Louis who police say shot and killed a retired police captain during a night of violent protests as the former officer tried to protect his friend’s pawn shop.The Associated Press reports charges have been filed against a man in St Louis who police say shot and killed a retired police captain during a night of violent protests as the former officer tried to protect his friend’s pawn shop.
A 24-year-old St Louis man has been charged with first-degree murder in the fatal shooting of a retired police captain who died on a night of violent protests while trying to protect his friend’s pawn shop, the city’s prosecutor announced Sunday/A 24-year-old St Louis man has been charged with first-degree murder in the fatal shooting of a retired police captain who died on a night of violent protests while trying to protect his friend’s pawn shop, the city’s prosecutor announced Sunday/
Stephan Cannon was being held without bond on a first-degree murder charge in the death of David Dorn, 77, who was killed Tuesday on the sidewalk outside Lee’s Pawn and Jewelry. Dorn’s last moments were caught on video and apparently posted on Facebook Live, though the video has since been taken down.Stephan Cannon was being held without bond on a first-degree murder charge in the death of David Dorn, 77, who was killed Tuesday on the sidewalk outside Lee’s Pawn and Jewelry. Dorn’s last moments were caught on video and apparently posted on Facebook Live, though the video has since been taken down.
Dorn’s death came on a violent night in St Louis, where four officers were shot, officers were pelted with rocks and fireworks, and 55 businesses were burglarized or damaged, including a convenience store that burned.Dorn’s death came on a violent night in St Louis, where four officers were shot, officers were pelted with rocks and fireworks, and 55 businesses were burglarized or damaged, including a convenience store that burned.
The unrest came as cities across the US have seen protests and violence since George Floyd died May 25 after a white Minneapolis officer pressed his knee into Floyd’s neck for several minutes, even after the handcuffed black man stopped moving and pleading for air.The unrest came as cities across the US have seen protests and violence since George Floyd died May 25 after a white Minneapolis officer pressed his knee into Floyd’s neck for several minutes, even after the handcuffed black man stopped moving and pleading for air.
St Louis Circuit Attorney Kim Gardner announced the charges.St Louis Circuit Attorney Kim Gardner announced the charges.
According to a police probable cause statement, Cannon was among those seen on surveillance footage entering the store and then stealing several televisions, The St. Louis Post-Dispatch reported. Dorn, a friend of the pawn shop’s owner who was in the habit of checking on the business when alarms went off, arrived at the store. Cannon then walked toward the street corner with gun in his hand.According to a police probable cause statement, Cannon was among those seen on surveillance footage entering the store and then stealing several televisions, The St. Louis Post-Dispatch reported. Dorn, a friend of the pawn shop’s owner who was in the habit of checking on the business when alarms went off, arrived at the store. Cannon then walked toward the street corner with gun in his hand.
“At the time the shots were fired, (Cannon) was the only person standing at that corner,” the probable cause statement reads. “Multiple plumes of smoke” can be seen coming from where Cannon was standing, and shell casings were found on the spot, police said.“At the time the shots were fired, (Cannon) was the only person standing at that corner,” the probable cause statement reads. “Multiple plumes of smoke” can be seen coming from where Cannon was standing, and shell casings were found on the spot, police said.
Cannon also faces several other charges including robbery and felon in possession of a firearm.Cannon also faces several other charges including robbery and felon in possession of a firearm.
The NBA’s Milwaukee Bucks led an estimated crowd of 7,500 supporters on what the team described as a public protest march through the city’s downtown area on Sunday.The NBA’s Milwaukee Bucks led an estimated crowd of 7,500 supporters on what the team described as a public protest march through the city’s downtown area on Sunday.
Sterling Brown, a third-year Bucks guard whose own police brutality case against the city for a 2018 incident is still pending, led the crowd in nine seconds of silence to honor George Floyd.Sterling Brown, a third-year Bucks guard whose own police brutality case against the city for a 2018 incident is still pending, led the crowd in nine seconds of silence to honor George Floyd.
“We making something great happen, something positive happen, something that’s heard around the world,” Brown said to the gathered demonstrators outside the team’s home arena, who responded with a various chants including “black lives matter”, “no justice, no peace”, and “we will be seen, we will be heard”.“We making something great happen, something positive happen, something that’s heard around the world,” Brown said to the gathered demonstrators outside the team’s home arena, who responded with a various chants including “black lives matter”, “no justice, no peace”, and “we will be seen, we will be heard”.
He added: “It’s great to see everybody out here standing as one, standing for equality, standing for George Floyd and his family and everybody who’s been a victim to police brutality.”He added: “It’s great to see everybody out here standing as one, standing for equality, standing for George Floyd and his family and everybody who’s been a victim to police brutality.”
Guardian US columnist Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, who started his own NBA career playing in Milwaukee, wrote about Brown’s parking violation gone wrong at the time.Guardian US columnist Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, who started his own NBA career playing in Milwaukee, wrote about Brown’s parking violation gone wrong at the time.
Los Angeles mayor Eric Garcetti has announced that national guard troops will be pulled out of the California cities where they’ve been deployed for a week.Los Angeles mayor Eric Garcetti has announced that national guard troops will be pulled out of the California cities where they’ve been deployed for a week.
“The California National Guard is departing Los Angeles this evening,” Garcetti said in a statement on Sunday. “A small number of units will be stationed nearby until June 10 to provide emergency support if needed. I’m proud that our city has been peaceful this week – and that our residents are leading a powerful movement to make Los Angeles more just, equitable, and fair for Black Angelenos, communities of color, and all of our workers, youth, and families.”“The California National Guard is departing Los Angeles this evening,” Garcetti said in a statement on Sunday. “A small number of units will be stationed nearby until June 10 to provide emergency support if needed. I’m proud that our city has been peaceful this week – and that our residents are leading a powerful movement to make Los Angeles more just, equitable, and fair for Black Angelenos, communities of color, and all of our workers, youth, and families.”
The announcement came amid another day of peaceful demonstrations across the state over the death of George Floyd and calls for police reforms.The announcement came amid another day of peaceful demonstrations across the state over the death of George Floyd and calls for police reforms.
Over 7,000 national guard troops were deployed to Los Angeles, San Francisco, Sacramento and other cities after rampant violence and thievery marred the first days of protests marred the first days of the protest, though the overwhelming majority of the more than 3,000 arrests in Los Angeles county by Wednesday were for non-violent offenses like failure to disperse or breaking curfew.Over 7,000 national guard troops were deployed to Los Angeles, San Francisco, Sacramento and other cities after rampant violence and thievery marred the first days of protests marred the first days of the protest, though the overwhelming majority of the more than 3,000 arrests in Los Angeles county by Wednesday were for non-violent offenses like failure to disperse or breaking curfew.
A veto-proof majority of the Minneapolis city council has announced its intent to dismantle the city’s police department and invest in community-led public safety, a move that would mark the first concrete victory in the mounting nationwide movement to defund law enforcement agencies in the aftermath of the police killing of George Floyd.A veto-proof majority of the Minneapolis city council has announced its intent to dismantle the city’s police department and invest in community-led public safety, a move that would mark the first concrete victory in the mounting nationwide movement to defund law enforcement agencies in the aftermath of the police killing of George Floyd.
Nine of the council’s 12 members announced their pledge to create a new system of public safety before hundreds of demonstrators at a rally at Powderhorn Park in south Minneapolis on Sunday afternoon.Nine of the council’s 12 members announced their pledge to create a new system of public safety before hundreds of demonstrators at a rally at Powderhorn Park in south Minneapolis on Sunday afternoon.
“This council is going to dismantle this police department,” councilman Jeremiah Ellison said.“This council is going to dismantle this police department,” councilman Jeremiah Ellison said.
Added city council president Lisa Bender: “We’re here because we hear you. We are here today because George Floyd was killed by the Minneapolis police. We are here because here in Minneapolis and in cities across the United States it is clear that our existing system of policing and public safety is not keeping our communities safe.Added city council president Lisa Bender: “We’re here because we hear you. We are here today because George Floyd was killed by the Minneapolis police. We are here because here in Minneapolis and in cities across the United States it is clear that our existing system of policing and public safety is not keeping our communities safe.
“Our efforts at incremental reform have failed. Period.”“Our efforts at incremental reform have failed. Period.”
On Friday, the council approved an agreement to ban the use of police chokeholds and neck restraints in response to the killing of Floyd with the state’s department of human rights, which also requires officers to intervene anytime they seen an unauthorized use of force.On Friday, the council approved an agreement to ban the use of police chokeholds and neck restraints in response to the killing of Floyd with the state’s department of human rights, which also requires officers to intervene anytime they seen an unauthorized use of force.
When pressed by CNN for details on what a city with a defunded police department might look like, Bender told the network that funding would be shifted to other needs.When pressed by CNN for details on what a city with a defunded police department might look like, Bender told the network that funding would be shifted to other needs.
“The idea of having no police department is certainly not in the short term,” Bender said.“The idea of having no police department is certainly not in the short term,” Bender said.
Utah senator Mitt Romney is among the roughly 1,000 demonstrators marching in a faith-based protest to the White House in Washington on Sunday afternoon.Utah senator Mitt Romney is among the roughly 1,000 demonstrators marching in a faith-based protest to the White House in Washington on Sunday afternoon.
Asked by a Washington Post reporter why he chose to join the movement, Romney said: “Finding a way to end injustice and brutality and to make sure people understand that black lives matter.”Asked by a Washington Post reporter why he chose to join the movement, Romney said: “Finding a way to end injustice and brutality and to make sure people understand that black lives matter.”
On Saturday, the 2012 Republican presidential candidate shared a photo of his father, George, participating in a civil rights march in protest of housing discrimination in 1963, his first year as Michigan’s governor. The caption included a quote from the elder Romney: “Force alone will not eliminate riots. ... We must eliminate the problems from which they stem.”On Saturday, the 2012 Republican presidential candidate shared a photo of his father, George, participating in a civil rights march in protest of housing discrimination in 1963, his first year as Michigan’s governor. The caption included a quote from the elder Romney: “Force alone will not eliminate riots. ... We must eliminate the problems from which they stem.”
Earlier Sunday, Romney was topic of discussion on the morning news shows after a New York Times story that said he and former US president George W Bush won’t be supporting Donald Trump’s reelection campaign.Earlier Sunday, Romney was topic of discussion on the morning news shows after a New York Times story that said he and former US president George W Bush won’t be supporting Donald Trump’s reelection campaign.
The New York Times has announced editorial page editor James Bennet has resigned amid outrage over an op-ed by a Republican senator who called for using federal troops to quell protests outrage.
The opinion piece by Arkansas lawmaker Tom Cotton drew widespread criticism from when it was first published late Wednesday afternoon, including from Times staff, that only grew when it was revealed that Bennet had not read the piece before publication.
Some Times staff members called in sick Thursday in protest and the paper said a review found that the piece did not meet its standards. Bennett responded to the backlash by posting an explanation on the Times’ decision to run Cotton’s piece:
“The Times editorial board has forcefully defended the protests as patriotic and criticized the use of force, saying earlier today that police too often have responded with more violence – against protesters, journalists and bystanders,” he wrote.
“As part of our explorations of these issues, Times Opinion has published powerful arguments supporting protests, advocating fundamental change and criticizing police abuses. Times Opinion owes it to our readers to show them counter-arguments, particularly those made by people in a position to set policy. We understand that many readers find Senator Cotton’s argument painful, even dangerous. We believe that is one reason it requires public scrutiny and debate.”
The Times said on Sunday that Katie Kingsbury has been named as acting editorial page editor through the November election.
The Rev Jesse Jackson spoke at a worship service on Sunday at St Stephen Church in Louisville, the Kentucky city where Breonna Taylor was shot at least eight times in her home after a brief confrontation with police who were there to serve a warrant in mid-March.
”When you kill, you should be arrested and charged,” Jackson said. ”There’s a George Floyd in every town. ... There’s a Breonna in this town, Laquan McDonald in Chicago, Arbery in Brunswick, Georgia, the world is revolting for justice.”
On Saturday, the 78-year-old activist called for Congress to pass an anti-lynching law and eliminate protections for police officers from lawsuits, a subject he spoke about during a conversation with Guardian US reporter David Smith last week.
A crowd of about 1,600 demonstrators have gathered outside Trump International Hotel and Tower at Columbus Circle in midtown Manhattan, chanting “Throw him out!” and “No justice, no peace!”
The 11th days of protests in New York City have unfolded peacefully on a warm Sunday afternoon following the mayor’s rescinding of a citywide 8pm curfew that had drawn extensive criticism for intensifying tensions between protesters and police from the New York Civil Liberties Union, Legal Aid Society, Thurgood Marshall Civil Rights Center and the Center for Constitutional Rights.
The Associated Press reports a white police officer has been charged with assault after using a stun gun on a black man in Virginia.
Fairfax County police Officer Tyler Timberlake was trying to get the man into an ambulance to go to a detox center on Friday, according to body camera video shown at a news conference late on Saturday.
Timberlake is seen striking the man with a stun gun and then getting on top of him, along with the officer wearing the body camera. Once Timberlake is on top of the man, he presses the stun gun into the back of his neck and fires again.
“Together as a community, through our transparency, we will heal as a community,” Fairfax County police chief Edwin C Roessler Jr said. “This is behavior we shall not tolerate.”
Roessler said someone had called police about a man walking down a street shouting that he needed oxygen. An officer who responded before Timberlake had tried to deescalate the situation, the police chief said, adding that it’s unclear why Timberlake used his stun gun.
Our correspondents have looked at how the world has reacted to the protests in the US – and it doesn’t look like the president has improved his global standing over the last few weeks:
The events of the past week in America have had reverberations around the world. For years, part of the daily work of the US state department was to issue denunciations of police brutality, suppression of dissent, and instability in far-flung corners of the globe.
In recent days it has been the other way round. Friendly nations have expressed concern, less friendly governments have revelled in Washington’s discomfort.
In South Africa, where there have also been sporadic demonstrations, the ruling African National Congress party called for calm in the US.
“We are convinced that America – a beacon of freedom for many worldwide – has the ability to directly focus on healing and peace and achieve an outcome that prioritises respect for and promotion of fundamental freedoms for all Americans,” Naledi Pandor, the country’s international relations minister, said.
The Nelson Mandela Foundation was less restrained, arguing that systemic violence towards black Americans could justify a violent response.
“When communities are confronted by both resilient structural violence and attacks on their bodies, violent responses will occur,” the foundation said in a statement.
The reviews aren’t great in China either:
“Trump is tearing apart America. He doesn’t need to send the troops. This will hurt the US’s international image,” said a journalist based in Beijing who asked not to be named. “All of this is about the fight for justice, rights and equality. Whether it is Hong Kong or the US, people need to differentiate between violence and the fight for justice.”
“You can see an absolute absence of moral legitimacy in the activities of all great powers, from Putin in Crimea to Trump in Minnesota,” said Liu Yi, editor of international affairs at Sanlian Life Weekly, a magazine.
“When Trump was showing his hypocrisy and arrogance in the Minnesota issue, Chinese nationalists got more legitimacy to say ‘never criticise us again about Hong Kong’.”
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The army secretary, Ryan McCarthy, said the Pentagon did not want to deploy troops on the streets of Washington DC last week as protesters gathered on the streets. He said the Insurrection Act, which would have allowed Donald Trump, to deploy active military members in the protests was “heavily discussed” by the administration.
“[The soldiers] were on the outskirts cause we didn’t want to do it. The department of defense didn’t want to do it because we knew once we went to that escalation, it’s very very difficult,” McCarthy told reporters on Sunday. “We did everything we could to not cross that line.”
McCarthy added that out of state national guard would start leaving the city later on Sunday. “Effective 5pm this evening we will begin redeploying the out of state guardsmen starting with the state of Mississippi ... as well as the state of Florida, Utah and Indiana,” McCarthy said.
Thousands of people have attended an anti-racism protest in Milan. Children born of foreign parents in Italy are not automatically eligible for citizenship until they reach 18 after continuously living in the country, and some protesters wanted to bring attention to legal reform on the question. There have been complaints that the children of foreigners aren’t considered Italians even though they have been born and raised in the country.
According to the Associated Press, “organizers on Sunday told participants that in Italy, the Black Lives Matter slogan means avoiding ‘seeing black bodies as if they’re foreigners’ and not as citizens.
The Guardian has published an editorial on the protests that have spread across the US – and the world – in the weeks since George Floyd’s killing by police.
George Floyd’s name is now known around the globe; his death has sparked protests from Berlin to Mexico City. The extraordinary cruelty of his killing has shocked the world. But his death has resonated so widely not because it was exceptional, but because it was not. Not exceptional in the US, where the toll of African Americans who have died at police hands is long and shameful. And not, unfortunately, exceptional elsewhere.
Tens of thousands gathered at the weekend in London, Manchester, Cardiff, Glasgow and other parts of the UK. In Bristol, protesters toppled a statue of slave trader Edward Colston. But the movement has also brought people on to the streets in Rio de Janeiro and Buenos Aires; in Abuja and Nairobi; in Barcelona, Copenhagen and Paris. These marches express solidarity and outrage that the richest and most powerful country in the world should continue to treat its people this way. Demonstrators oppose the racial legacy it embodies, and the brutal, militarised police response to protests.
But though they honour the African American experience, they also recognise the commonality of black struggles elsewhere, and more broadly the fight for human rights. The words “I can’t breathe” are chillingly familiar. In Australia, they evoke the death of David Dungay, an Indigenous man who uttered those words 12 times as he was restrained by prison guards. In Britain, they were cried out by Jimmy Mubenga as security guards pinned the deportee to his plane seat.
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New York governor Andrew Cuomo said during his daily press briefing on Sunday that poor management was to blame for incidents of looting over the last week in New York City.
“The looting had nothing to do with protesting. Protesting is different,” Cuomo said. “You have looting, and you have protesting. You have apples, you have oranges. They’re different. Well the night of looting was the fault of the police officers? No, it wasn’t the fault of the protesters and it wasn’t the fault of the police officers, I said it was the management and deployment of the police officers.”
Like Washington DC’s mayor, Muriel Bowser, Cuomo said defunding police would not be helpful. “No police? You get looting. That’s what you get. Nobody wants that,” he said.
Chicago has now lifted its curfew.
“The curfew is lifted effective immediately,” wrote the city’s mayor, Lori Lightfoot, on Twitter. “I know this time in our city and our country has been difficult for us all, and I’m grateful to our residents for working together to navigate this challenging time.”
It is estimated the largest protest in Chicago on Saturday drew around 20,000 people and proceeded peacefully, encouraging the mayor to lift the curfew.