George Floyd dies in Minneapolis: police charged with manslaughter

Four days after the death of George Floyd at the hands of the police, the officer implicated in the muscular arrest was arrested and then charged with manslaughter, the prosecutor in charge announced the case on Friday.

"The police officer involved in the death of Mr. Floyd, who was identified as Derek Chauvin, has been detained" by the criminal police, said Commissioner John Harrington of the Minnesota Department of Civil Protection earlier.

Thousands of people are demanding justice after the death of this 46-year-old African-American who, according to a video that has gone viral, seems to have been suffocated on Monday evening by a police officer. Filmed and posted on social networks by a witness, the muscular arrest of George Floyd has sparked protests across the country.

>> Read also: "George Floyd: a matter of racism, 'but also of violence and politics'"

The four agents involved in the tragedy were dismissed and federal and local investigations were opened to establish their responsibilities.

After a third night of riots in Minneapolis, the National Guard was deployed to try to restore calm. The soldiers established a security perimeter around a police station burnt down overnight. Thirty businesses were also looted during these violent demonstrations.

President Donald Trump, who has repeatedly denounced a "tragic" crime and called for a prompt investigation, this time attacked the "thugs". "The looting will be immediately greeted by bullets," he wrote in a tweet, which the social network decided to report as an "apology for violence".

The National Guard has arrived on the scene. They are in Minneapolis and fully prepared. George Floyd will not have died in vain. Respect his memory !!!

Former President of the United States Barack Obama, for his part, said he shared "the same distress" as "millions of others" faced with a situation that "cannot be normal".

"People are angry because this is not the first time the police have killed in this country," Reverend Al Sharpton said on MSNBC on Friday morning.

"I implore you to stay calm and let us investigate," said federal prosecutor Erica MacDonald at a press conference.

A rising anger

During the night of Thursday to Friday, the demonstrations turned into a riot near the police station where the four men worked. Confronted with the advance of the demonstrators, the security forces had abandoned the premises around 10 p.m. Some protesters then succeeded in breaking through the security barriers, breaking the windows and setting the building on fire.

Several shops in the surrounding area have experienced a similar fate and the violence has also spread to certain districts of the neighboring town of Saint-Louis, with sporadic clashes between police officers and residents.

In the early morning, smoke continued to rise in several parts of the city, where soldiers and riot police patrolled in a tense climate.

A team of CNN journalists covering the scene was arrested live by police, and released after two hours. Governor Tim Walz has apologized to the news channel. "These people are on edge," commented journalist Omar Jimenez simply.

Anger is beginning to spread to other American cities. Protesters blocked a highway in Denver, others defied containment orders in New York or Chicago. In Louisville, Kentucky, clashes took place as residents sought justice for Breonna Taylor, a black woman killed by police in her apartment in March.

Death of George Floyd: "Don't shoot, our hands are in the air", protesters protest in Minneapolis

An international shock wave

The emotion goes beyond American borders. UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Michelle Bachelet on Thursday denounced the "long series of murders of unarmed African Americans by American police" and called on the authorities to take "action" .

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said citizens of his country were following the situation with "amazement and horror".

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan criticized in a nocturnal tweet "the racist and fascist approach that led to the death of George Floyd".

He was arrested by the police because they believed he wanted to forge a counterfeit $ 20 bill. During the intervention, George Floyd was tackled to the ground by an officer who kept his knee on his neck for long minutes. "I can't breathe anymore," we hear him say on the recording of the scene.

The case recalls in particular the death of Eric Garner, a black man who died in 2014 in New York after being asphyxiated during his arrest by white police officers. He too had said "I can't breathe", a phrase that has become a rallying cry of the Black Lives Matter movement.

With AFP

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