US protests latest: Minneapolis police to be dismantled; US curfews lifted; Europeans join global wave of demonstrations
- Thousands of people take to the streets of European cities; Romney is first Republican senator to join US protests
- Here’s the latest on the protests, sparked by the killing of George Floyd
Tens of thousands of people marched in places from coast to coast Saturday in what was perhaps the largest one-day mobilisation since Floyd died on May 25.
“What we’re facing is a real reckoning on a lot of levels,” said Alicia Garza, co-founder of Black Lives Matter. “This [coronavirus] pandemic pulled back the curtains on decades of disinvestment, decades of devaluing and also now one of the major issues that black communities face is violence at the hands of the police.”
Many activists believe the unrest could be an opportunity to press Democratic leadership, including presumptive presidential nominee Joe Biden, to address criminal justice in a deeper way. Floyd’s family and civil rights leader the Reverend Al Sharpton have announced a march on Washington in August to call for a federal policing equality act.
Protesters marched again Sunday, though not in the apparent record numbers of the day before, nationally and globally. Despite the crowds’ size on Saturday, fewer arrests were reported in New York City and in the nation’s capital. President Donald Trump tweeted Sunday he was ordering the National Guard to vacate Washington “now that everything is under perfect control”.
The threat to send in active-duty military was never realised.
Several cities have also lifted their curfews, including Chicago and New York City, which is preparing to enter its first phase of reopening after virus shutdowns.
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Black Lives Matter protests sweep the globe after police killing of George Floyd in US
Here are the developments:
Minneapolis police to be dismantled
A majority of the Minneapolis City Council pledged on Sunday to “begin the process” of dismantling its police force, in the wave of anger and protest over George Floyd, who died after a city police officer knelt on his neck for almost nine minutes.
The nine votes are veto-proof. Council members, who signed the dismantling pledge before hundreds of onlookers, said they did not have immediate plans for what would replace the force but would consult the community on a new structure for public safety
On Saturday, Mayor Jacob Frey was booed by a sea of protesters then fled after he said: “I do not support the full abolition of the police”.
A civil rights lawyer, he was elected in 2018 after promising to mend relations between the police and Minneapolis residents.
Community activists have criticised the Minneapolis department for years for what they say is a racist and brutal culture that resists change. The state of Minnesota launched a civil rights investigation of the department last week, and the first concrete changes came Friday in a stipulated agreement in which the city agreed to ban chokeholds and neck restraints.
Europeans join global wave of anti-racism protests
Thousands of people took to the streets of European cities on Sunday in support of the Black Lives Matter movement.
A rally in Rome’s sprawling People’s Square was noisy but peaceful, with most protesters wearing masks to protect against coronavirus. Participants listened to speeches and held up placards saying “Black Lives Matter” and “It’s a White Problem”.
The rally came a day after largely peaceful anti-racism protests took place in cities from Australia to Europe to the US in response to the May 25 death of American George Floyd.
US embassies were the focus of protests elsewhere in Europe, with more than 10,000 gathering in the Danish capital Copenhagen, hundreds in Budapest and thousands in Madrid, where they lined the street guarded by police in riot gear.
Police in Brussels detained 150 people and fired a water cannon to quell unrest after protest that drew thousands of people.
The city mayor, Philippe Close, blamed the violence on “delinquents” and noted that the 10,000 people who demonstrated earlier in the day did so calmly. Video on social media showed youths smashing shop windows.
For the second day running, some demonstrators scuffled with police near Downing Street in London. There were also clashes outside the US embassy.
New York lifts 8pm curfew
New York City lifted the curfew spurred by protests against police brutality ahead of schedule on Sunday after a peaceful night, free of the clashes or ransacking of stores that rocked the city days earlier.
“I want to thank everybody who has expressed their views peacefully,” Mayor Bill de Blasio said Sunday morning. “I made the decision to end the curfew. And honestly, I hope it’s the last time we will ever need a curfew in New York City.”
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The 8pm citywide curfew, New York’s first in decades, had been set to remain in effect through at least Sunday, with officials planning to lift it at the same time the city enters the first phase of reopening after nearly three months of shutdowns because of the coronavirus.
The move followed New York City police pulling back on enforcing the curfew Saturday as thousands took to the streets for another day of marches and rallies sparked by the May 25 death of George Floyd at the hands of Minneapolis police.
The mayor said police had arrested four people and issued 24 court summonses in the whole day.
Defunding police ‘absurd’: top US homeland official
The top US homeland security official said it was “absurd” to talk about defunding police departments as a remedy for racial injustice, arguing that such a move would deprive officers of necessary training and leadership.
In an interview on Fox News Sunday, acting Homeland Security Secretary Chad Wolf said cutting police budgets would merely harm the communities where they serve.
“It’s an absurd assertion and I don’t understand it,” Wolf said. “If you’re concerned about the racial injustice, if you’re concerned about needing to reform different police departments or law enforcement agencies, you want to make sure that you are giving them the right training.”
US protesters push to ‘defund the police’. What does it mean?
In the past two weeks, mass protests decrying the death of George Floyd at the hands of Minneapolis police officer, and other examples of racial injustice have rocked cities nationwide. Some protesters have called for cities and states to “defund the police”.
The rallying cry is ambiguous. Some protesters say some police funding should be redirected to social services in marginalised communities. Others want to disband local police forces altogether.
Four in five voters feel US is ‘out of control’
Four in five registered voters in a new poll feel “things in the country are out of control” as the death toll from the coronavirus pandemic approaches 110,000, unemployment remains at a level not seen since the Great Depression and protests continue across the US.
According to an NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll released Sunday, just 15 per cent of voters think matters in the USA are under control and perceptions of the economy are at their worst since the end of President Barack Obama’s first term, when the country was still recovering from a recession.
The sense of chaos and economic pessimism did not have much effect on the job approval rating for President Donald Trump, who has pitched himself as the “law and order” candidate for the upcoming election. At 45 per cent, his approval rating remains within the range that NBC/Wall Street Journal polls and other surveys have found since he took office.
The polls found former vice-president Joe Biden, who clinched the Democratic nomination last week, leading Trump 49 per cent to 42 per cent – the same result as the previous NBC/Wall Street Journal poll on April 20.
Romney is first Republican senator to join protest
US Senator Mitt Romney marched in a protest against police mistreatment of minorities in the nation’s capital, making him the first Republican senator to do so.
Romney, who represents Utah, posted a tweet showing him wearing a mask as he walked with Black Lives Matter protesters in Washington on Sunday. Above the photo he wrote: Black Lives Matter.
On Saturday, Romney tweeted a photo of his father, George, who was the governor of Michigan from 1963 to 1969, marching with civil rights protesters in the 1960s in a Detroit suburb.
Above the photo, Mitt Romney wrote: “This is my father, George Romney, participating in a Civil Rights march in the Detroit suburbs during the late 1960s – “Force alone will not eliminate riots,” he said. “We must eliminate the problems from which they stem.”
Biden to meet with Floyd’s family before funeral
Former vice-president Joe Biden plans to travel to Houston to meet with the family of George Floyd and will provide a video message for Floyd’s funeral service.
A Biden aide on Sunday described the plans of the Democratic presidential candidate. They did not include attending the service.
Biden expects to give the family his condolences, said the aide.
Funeral services Monday will follow a six-hour viewing for Floyd, who was raised in Houston. Burial is set for Tuesday in the Houston suburb of Pearland.
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Biden has spoken about racial inequality and promised Floyd’s family that he will do what he can to help them find justice.
“Once again – the words ‘I can’t breathe”. An act of brutality so elemental, it did more than deny one more black man in America his civil rights and his human rights. It denied his very humanity. It denied him of his life,” Biden said a few days after Floyd was killed. It was just one of several expressions of grief over the death by the former vice-president.
Floyd’s brothers have said they had an extended conversation with Biden, while their phone call with Trump was brief.
National Guard pulling out of Los Angeles area
The National Guard is pulling out of the Los Angeles area, a week after being deployed amid largely peaceful protests and some scattered looting in a few areas, two sources familiar with the plan told The Los Angeles Times on Sunday.
The National Guard has been a visible and controversial presence in the region, guarding landmark buildings like City Hall and also assisting with crowd control.
Protests of unprecedented size and scale continued across Southern California, with tens of thousands marching Saturday in various cities to express outrage at police brutality and the George Floyd killing in police custody.
The Floyd protests have been peaceful, and the Los Angeles Police Department is investigating videos showing officers using force on some of those demonstrators.
One source, who was not authorised to speak publicly, said the pull-out could be completed later Sunday. A second source said that a small number of Guard members remain to protect some key LA assets but that most have returned to their bases.
Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti called in the Guard on May 30 after heated protests in the Fairfax District that ended with some burglaries and thefts by people police believe were not associated with the demonstrations. There have been no major reports of such illegal activity since Monday, when some businesses in Hollywood and Van Nuys were hit. Stores in Long Beach, downtown LA and Santa Monica also saw people stealing merchandise.
Statues torn down
Demonstrators attached ropes to the statue of Edward Colston before pulling it down to cheers and roars of approval from the crowd.
Images on social media show protesters appearing to kneel on the statue’s neck, recalling the death of George Floyd. The statue met with a watery end as it was eventually rolled into the city’s harbour.
It wasn’t the only statute targeted on Sunday. In Brussels, protesters clambered onto the statue of former King Leopold II and chanted “reparations,” according to video posted on social media. The word “shame” was also graffitied on the monument, reference perhaps to the fact that Leopold is said to have reigned over the mass death of 10 million Congolese.
‘Do not kill Aborigines’, Australian academic urges
An indigenous academic has used an award to urge Australians to address black deaths in custody,
Melbourne University professor Marcia Langton was given an Order of Australia award on Monday for her distinguished service to tertiary education and as an advocate for Indigenous Australians.
Langton defied government leaders’ pandemic warnings by attending a rally in Melbourne on Saturday protesting the death in Minnesota of George Floyd and the high rate of Indigenous incarceration in Australia.
Langton said Australian politicians did not acknowledge that the disproportion rate of Indigenous people being sent to prison was a problem and police were not trained to prevent indigenous deaths in custody.
“I would have thought it is pretty straightforward – do not kill Aborigines. How hard is that?” Langton told the Australian Broadcasting Corporation.
Minister for Indigenous Australians Ken Wyatt, the first Indigenous person to serve in the role, said Langton made a poignant point. He said he would work with state agencies to address the large number of Indigenous prisoners receiving hospital treatment.
There have been 434 Indigenous deaths in police custody and prisons in Australia since 1991 when a government inquiry reported on the problem of black deaths in custody, The Guardian reported.
Indigenous Australians account for 2 per cent of Australia’s adult population and 27 per cent of Australia’s prison population.
NYT opinion editor resigns after furor over op-ed
Bennet’s deputy, James Dao, will resign from the paper’s masthead and be reassigned to the newsroom.
“Last week we saw a significant breakdown in our editing processes, not the first we’ve experienced in recent years,” AG Sulzberger, The Times publisher, said in a message to staff, the paper reported.
The paper concluded that the op-ed did not meet its standards after a review on Thursday. Earlier, Bennet defended publishing the piece on Twitter, saying that the “Times Opinions owes it to our readers to show them counter arguments”.
Former US Naval Academy trustee apologises
A former member of the US Naval Academy alumni trustees issued an apology statement Sunday for racially insensitive comments made on social media.
Retired Captain Scott Bethmann was asked to resign as a trustee on Saturday after a live conversation with his wife that was posted on Facebook disparaged admission by the academy of African Americans, Asian Americans and women. News reports said the couple did not appear to realise they were streaming online via Facebook Live.
“There are no words that can appropriately express how mortified and apologetic my wife and I are about the insensitive things we said that were captured on social media,” Bethmann said in the statement. “There is never a time when it is appropriate to use derogatory terms when speaking about our fellow man.”
The comments were made by Bethmann and his wife, Nancy, while they were watching TV news and discussing the Black Lives Matter movement. The Florida Times-Union reports they were overheard using a slur for African Americans and making other racial comments on the Facebook Live feed.
Associated Press, Agence France-Presse, Reuters, DPA, Bloomberg
