Rubber bullets, tear gas and aggression against the press: large-scale protests disperse in the USA for five days

US President Donald Trump reacted to the use of the forces of the National Guard in Minneapolis, where riots continue for the fifth day. The head of state said that the fighters should have been involved two days ago, this would have avoided significant damage, as well as the destruction of the police station.

“The National Guard arrived in Minneapolis to do work that the mayor Democrat could not do,” Trump wrote on Twitter.

The National Guard has been released in Minneapolis to do the job that the Democrat Mayor couldn't do. Should have been used 2 days ago & there would not have been damage & Police Headquarters would not have been taken over & ruined. Great job by the National Guard. No games!

As it became known, in Minneapolis the police and the National Guard guards used rubber bullets and tear gas to disperse the protesters on Lake Street (one of the largest streets in the city) .

Note that the Minnesota authorities decided to fully mobilize the National Guard due to unrest for the first time in state history.

“Such measures have not been taken in the entire 164-year history of the Minnesota National Guard,” said State Governor Tim Wals.

JUST IN: Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz announces he is authorizing "full mobilization" of the state's National Guard.

Walz calls it "an action that has never been taken in the 164 year history of the Minnesota National Guard." https://t.co/3y4sSbgNUTpic.twitter.com/nAwsh0T1ge

Minneapolis also received military helicopters that fly over the city.

In addition, US law enforcement officers again used force against media workers. A RIA Novosti correspondent said that after the dispersal of protesters in one of the city’s districts, the National Guard guards allowed the press to remain in the gas station. However, later a minibus with policemen drove up to the gas station, who, “having aimed their weapons at people”, demanded that everyone enter the station building.

Despite the explanations of the journalists that they are representatives of the media, and the identification documents presented, the two officers used a tear spray against RIA Novosti correspondent Mikhail Turgiev and a member of the VICE TV crew.

Recall that the riots began after May 25, 46-year-old African American George Floyd, who was detained by police officers, died in a hospital. The network got a video of the man’s detention, which shows how one of the police officers pressed Floyd’s neck with his knee when he was already lying on the ground. The man repeatedly complained that he had nothing to breathe, after which he lost consciousness. 

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Video recording caused a wide public outcry. City officials announced the dismissal of four police officers. Protests began in Minneapolis, after which they spread throughout the country. 

At the same time, the New York Times claims that George Floyd and the former police officer Derek Chaven, who was accused in his case, worked at a night club about a year ago - Chaven worked there as a security guard, and the deceased Floyd worked as a bouncer. The newspaper does not report any conflicts between men that could have caused the tragedy.

By Saturday evening, according to CNBC, authorities in more than ten cities announced a curfew. The measure is valid in Minneapolis, Los Angeles, Atlanta, Seattle, Chicago, Philadelphia, Columbus, Pittsburgh, Salt Lake City, Nashville, Portland, Denver, Cincinnati, Milwaukee and others.

In Washington, as a result of demonstrations near the White House, several Secret Service officers were wounded and stoned and stoned by protesters. After the protesters burned the car, the police used tear gas. 

In Oakland, California, the day before during the protests, two employees of the federal security service of the US Department of Homeland Security were injured, one of them died.

Meanwhile, protesters in New York temporarily blocked the FDR motorway in east Manhattan, seated on the roadway in both directions.

Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said the footage of what is happening in the US is terrifying.

Zakharova noted live on the YouTube channel "Solovyov LIVE" that she feels compassion "for the people who are torn by such terrible contradictions" and empathizes with the residents of the United States.

“This is a national tragedy, which revealed what they probably did not want to talk or listen to, and what the whole world taught, namely, tragedy in that very human right sphere, in the very field that they always for themselves they considered resolved and problem-free. The leadership in the human rights sphere, which they ascribed to themselves, was not leadership, ”the representative of the foreign ministry emphasized.

She recalled that in 2018, the United States withdrew from the UN Human Rights Council (HRC). Zakharov explained this step by the fact that in Washington, obviously, they understood what was happening inside their own state. She noted that American human rights organizations in the first days after the murder of Floyd were restrained in their assessments of what was happening.