The United States is preparing for a new night of riots after the death of George Floyd. The 46-year-old African American died on Monday after a police officer kept his knee on his neck for long minutes in Minnesota. If the officer was charged with manslaughter, the anger has not subsided. The outbreak of violence has spread to other major cities across the country.
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In Washington, protesters erected barricades outside the White House. They held up signs that read "Stop killing us". In Denver and New York, residents braved confinement and confronted the police, several vehicles of which were burned. Clashes have also occurred in Dallas and a highway has been blocked in Phoenix.
"This is not a demonstration, this is chaos"
In Atlanta, protesters set fire to police cars and ransacked the premises of CNN . The mayor of the city, Keisha Lance Bottoms, herself an African-American, moved to tears, denounced the violence even if she supports the cause of the demonstrators. "I am a mother of four black children. When I see the murder of George Floyd it hurts like a mother would hurt," she said.
"When I heard there would be riots in Atlanta, I did what a mayor would have done. I called my 18-year-old son and asked him 'where are you?' When I see what happened on the streets of Atlanta ... It's not a demonstration, this is chaos. Even when Martin Luther King was murdered, we didn't do that in our city . "
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In Minneapolis, where it all started, 1,700 National Guard soldiers were called in to enforce the curfew. It is the first time in 164 years of existence that the Minnesota National Guard has been fully mobilized.