Pentagon puts military police on alert as protests over George Floyd’s death continue across US

The get-ready orders were sent verbally after US President Donald Trump asked for military options to help quell the unrest in Minneapolis

Anger over the police killing of George Floyd continues to spread, with one person killed in Detroit and protests outside the White House

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A protester gestures as cars burn behind him as violence continues to erupt following the death of George Floyd, a unarmed black man who died after a white policeman knelt on his neck for several minutes. Photo: AFP

Published: 4:18pm, 30 May 2020Updated: 1:34pm, 1 Jun 2020

As unrest spread across dozens of American cities on Friday, the Pentagon took the rare step of ordering the Army to put several active-duty US military police units on the ready to deploy to Minneapolis, where the police killing of George Floyd sparked the widespread protests.

Soldiers from Fort Bragg in North Carolina and Fort Drum in New York have been ordered to be ready to deploy within four hours if called, according to three people with direct knowledge of the orders. Soldiers in Fort Carson, in Colorado, and Fort Riley in Kansas have been told to be ready within 24 hours.

The get-ready orders were sent verbally after US President Donald Trump asked Defence Secretary Mark Esper for military options to help quell the unrest in Minneapolis after protests descended into looting and arson in some parts of the city.

Demonstrators kneel before police in Minneapolis on Friday night. Photo: AP

Trump made the request on a phone call from the Oval Office on Thursday night that included Esper, National Security Advisor Robert O’ Brien and several others. The president asked Esper for rapid deployment options if the Minneapolis protests continued to spiral out of control, according to one of the people, a senior Pentagon official who was on the call.

“When the White House asks for options, someone opens the drawer and pulls them out so to speak.” the official said.