The Latest on the May 25 death in Minneapolis of George Floyd, a handcuffed black man who pleaded for air as a white police officer pressed a knee on his neck:
TOP OF THE HOUR:
— Family members of George Floyd expected to attend memorial service
— EU envoy: George Floyd's death an "appalling'' abuse of power
— Officer shot in Las Vegas, authorities respond to 2nd shooting
— Hungary reprimands soccer player with Floyd slogan on shirt
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MINNEAPOLIS — Family members of George Floyd are expected to attend a memorial service in his honor Thursday in Minneapolis.
The Rev. Al Sharpton is to deliver the eulogy at the service on the campus of North Central University.
The civil rights organization Sharpton founded, National Action Network, organized the memorial. The family’s attorney, Ben Crump, is also expected to make remarks at the service from 1 p.m. to 3 p.m.
A Minneapolis police officer was charged last week with third-degree murder in Floyd’s death May 25, and three other officers were fired. Bystander video showed the white officer, Derek Chauvin, holding his knee on the neck of the black man while he pleaded for air with his hands handcuffed behind him.
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WASHINGTON — Washington, D.C., Mayor Muriel Bowser said on CNN on Tuesday it’s inappropriate for the military to be used for police work on U.S. streets.
“We don’t think that the active duty military should be used on American streets against Americans,” he said.
“It’s an inappropriate use of our military. And we have police in Washington, D.C. We have federal police in Washington, D.C., to focus on the federal properties, and that is an appropriate use. Police have policing power, and bringing in the military to do police work is inappropriate in any state in the United States of America without the consent of the governor, and it would be inappropriate in Washington, D.C.”
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NEW YORK — An unprecedented curfew in New York City did little to prevent destruction as groups of people smashed their way into shops including Macy’s flagship Manhattan store, grabbed merchandise and fled.
Police said more than 200 people were arrested and several officers were injured during the chaos Monday night and early Tuesday that followed another day of peaceful protests throughout the city over the death of George Floyd. One officer was struck by a hit-and-run driver in the Bronx and was taken to a hospital in critical condition, police said.
Monday was the fourth night in a row of mainly peaceful daytime demonstrations followed by violence and arrests after nightfall.
Mayor Bill de Blasio and Gov. Andrew Cuomo, both Democrats, announced an 11 p.m. curfew late Monday afternoon. De Blasio said Tuesday’s curfew would start earlier — beginning at 8 p.m. and ending at 5 a.m — in an effort to quell late-night violence and destruction.
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ST. PAUL, Minn. — At least 65 people were arrested at Minnesota’s Capitol in St. Paul Monday night for violating a curfew, police said. They gathered peacefully on the Capitol grounds following a march down a St. Paul street.
Thousands had gathered earlier in the day at the governor’s mansion to demand the arrest and prosecution of all four former police officers involved in the death of George Floyd.
In Minneapolis, at the site of Floyd’s fatal encounter with police that has become a memorial, the crowd grew slightly agitated awaiting the arrival of police, but there was no widespread property damage.
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BERLIN — Germany’s foreign minister says the peaceful protests in the United States following the death of George Floyd are “understandable and more than legitimate.”
Heiko Maas said in Berlin on Tuesday that his thoughts are with the friends and family of Floyd, who “lost his life in a truly terrible and shocking way, or one should say it was taken from him.”
Maas said that peaceful protests must always be allowed. He added that “the peaceful protest we are seeing in the United States — with many very moving gestures including by American police officers — this protest is understandable and more than legitimate.”
He added: “I can only express my hope that the peaceful protests do not continue to lead to violence, but even more express the hope that these protests have an effect in the United States.”
Maas also stressed that journalists must be able to do their jobs without risking their safety and criticized violence against them.
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BRUSSELS — The European Union’s top diplomat said Tuesday the death of George Floyd was the result of an abuse of power and that the 27-nation bloc is “shocked and appalled” by it.
EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell told reporters that “like the people of the United States, we are shocked and appalled by the death of George Floyd.”
Floyd died last week after he was pinned to the pavement by a white police officer in Minneapolis who put his knee on the handcuffed black man’s neck until he stopped breathing. His death set off protests that spread across America.
Borrell says law enforcement officials must not be “using their capacities in the way that has been used in this very, very unhappy death of George Floyd. This is an abuse of power and this has to be denounced.”
He underlined that Europeans “support the right to peaceful protest, and also we condemn violence and racism of any kind, and for sure, we call for a de-escalation of tensions.”
Borrell says “we trust in the ability of the Americans to come together, to heal as a nation and to address these important issues during these difficult times.”
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BUDAPEST, Hungary — The Hungarian soccer federation has issued a written reprimand to a player of African origin who showed his undershirt with the words “Justice for George Floyd” after scoring for Ferencvaros in its 1-1 draw with Puskas Akademia on Sunday.
Tokmac Nguen was born in a refugee camp in Kenya to parents from South Sudan and grew up in Norway.
The federation’s disciplinary committee said in its ruling issued Monday that any similar actions by Nguen in the future would result in “actual penalties” on each occasion.
Just hours after Nguen’s reprimand, FIFA, the world soccer’s governing body urged soccer competition organizers to apply “common sense” and consider not sanctioning players demanding justice for Floyd during matches.
The German soccer federation is investigating similar actions by four players in the Bundesliga, including American midfielder Weston McKennie, who wore an armband over his Schalke jersey with the handwritten message “Justice for George.”
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LAS VEGAS — An officer has been shot in Las Vegas and authorities are responding to another shooting as people protest the killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis, authorities said.
The officer was shot in the area of the Las Vegas Strip and an officer was involved in a shooting in the downtown area, according to Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department
Protesters have been rallying for days across the country over the death of George Floyd, a black man seen on video pleading that he couldn’t breathe while a white police officer pressing his knee into his neck for several minutes before he stopped moving.
Police in Las Vegas said Monday that 338 people were arrested during three nights of protests. Police said suspects were jailed despite a local court policy calling for most people accused of misdemeanors to receive court summons to prevent the spread of coronavirus.
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SEOUL — South Korea’s Foreign Ministry says it has far confirmed 79 cases of property damage at stores run by Korean Americans amid U.S. protests over the death of George Floyd.
The ministry, which held a teleconferencing meeting with diplomats based in the United States to review the demonstrations’ impact on Korean Americans and South Korean citizens, said Tuesday it has yet to confirm any injuries or deaths.
The ministry says 50 cases of property damage were reported from Philadelphia, 10 from Minneapolis, five form Raleigh and four from Atlanta.
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SYDNEY — More than 1,000 protesters marched through downtown Sydney on Tuesday in solidarity with Americans demonstrating against the death of George Floyd half a world away.
Police escorted a crowd carrying banners that said: “Black Lives Matter,” “Aboriginal Lives Matter,” “White Silence is Violence” and “We See You, We Hear You, We Stand With You.”
The group marched from Hyde Park to New South Wales state Parliament with plans to continue to the U.S. Consulate.
The protest proceeded despite some organizers canceling it Monday for fear of conflict with counter protesters. But no counter protest emerged.
Around 2,000 demonstrators gathered in Australia’s west coast city of Perth on Monday night to peacefully protest Floyd’s death, and rallies are planned for other Australian cities this week.
Referring to the violence in U.S. streets, Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison said “there’s no need to import things ... happening in other countries here to Australia.”
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ST. LOUIS — Police say four officers were hit by gunfire after protests in St. Louis that started peacefully Monday became violent overnight, with demonstrators smashing windows and stealing items from businesses and fires burning in the downtown area.
The police department tweeted early Tuesday that the officers were taken to a hospital with injuries that were not believed to be life-threatening. It was unclear who had fired the shots.
The chaos in St. Louis followed continued protests Monday in Missouri over the death of George Floyd and police treatment of African Americans, with gatherings also held in Kansas City and Jefferson City.
On Monday afternoon, several hundred people rallied peacefully outside the justice center in downtown St. Louis, including Mayor Lyda Krewson and St. Louis Public Safety Director Jimmie Edwards. Protestors later walked to the Gateway Arch National Park and then onto nearby Interstate 64.
But later Monday, protesters gathered in front of police headquarters, where officers fired tear gas. Some protesters smashed windows at a downtown 7-11 store and stole items from inside before the building was set on fire.
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NEW YORK — New York City imposed a late-night curfew Monday that failed to prevent another night of destruction, including arrests after a break-in at the iconic Macy’s store on 34th Street, following protests over George Floyd’s death.
As the 11 p.m. deadline to get off the streets approached, bands of protesters marched peacefully through Manhattan and Brooklyn, but police simultaneously responded to numerous reports of roving groups of people smashing their way into shops and emptying them of merchandise.
The doors of Macy’s flagship Manhattan store were breached. Police pulled two handcuffed men out and put them in a van.
People rushed into a Nike store and carried out armloads of clothing. Near Rockefeller Center, storefront windows were smashed and multiple people arrested. Bank windows were smashed. Wreckage littered the inside of an AT&T store.
Video posted on social media showed some protesters arguing with people breaking windows, urging them to stop, but instances of vandalism and smash-and-grab thefts mounted as the night deepened.
New York joined other cities around the country in imposing a curfew after days of unrest. It comes on top of months of restrictions on public gatherings already imposed because of the coronavirus pandemic.
Enough mayhem happened before the curfew took effect that Mayor Bill de Blasio tweeted that it would move up to 8 p.m. Tuesday. The curfew lifts at 5 a.m.
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BIRMINGHAM, Ala. — Workers in Alabama’s largest city began removing a Confederate monument Monday night after demonstrators failed to knock down the obelisk the night before.
Birmingham Mayor Randall Woodfin sent workers with heavy equipment to take down the more than 50-foot-tall Confederate monument made of stone. Late on Monday, after a 7 p.m. curfew took effect and streets were mostly clear, crews began their work.
Live video showed workers attaching straps to the peak of the obelisk so it could be lifted away with a crane. Within a few hours they had removed the top of the monument.
Woodfin said the city would see if the memorial could be given to a museum or another group.
Woodfin said the fine the city may face for violating a state law banning the removal of Confederate and other long-standing monuments is more affordable than the cost of continued unrest in the city.
Attorney General Steve Marshall, in a statement, said the city would face an assessment of $25,000 if it removed the monument, which has been the subject of a court fight between the mostly black city and Republican-controlled state.
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CICERO, Ill. — Two people have been killed during unrest in the Chicago suburb of Cicero as protests continued over the death of George Floyd, according to a town official.
Spokesman Ray Hanania says 60 people were arrested in the town of about 84,000 located west of Chicago. Hanania didn’t provide additional information about those killed or the circumstances of their deaths.
The Illinois State Police and Cook County Sheriff’s Office were called in to help local police Monday as people broke into a liquor store and other businesses and stole items.
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BUFFALO, N.Y. — A vehicle plowed through a group of law enforcement officers at a George Floyd demonstration Monday night in Buffalo, injuring at least two.
Video from the scene shows the vehicle accelerating through an intersection shortly after officers apparently tackle a protester on the street and handcuff him. Officers are seen scattering to avoid the SUV as it drives off on Buffalo’s east side. Apparent gunshots are heard.
The officers were taken to Erie County Medical Center. Authorities said they were in stable condition.
