A curfew has been imposed in Washington, as in other major cities in the United States, to prevent further riots in the protests against police violence and racism in which thousands of people took part in Sunday's across the country.
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Donald Trump sheltered in an underground bunker
The police nevertheless fired tear gas outside the White House to disperse a demonstration, while violent clashes shook the capital, according to AFP journalists on the spot. A crowd of protesters gathered in front of US President Donald Trump's residence chanting slogans, lighting fires and holding up signs, despite the curfew. According to the New York Times , Donald Trump was led by the Secret Service on Saturday to a similar demonstration outside his residence, sheltered in an underground bunker.
While saying they understood their anger, many local officials had urged protesters to be restrained for this sixth night of protests, while President Donald Trump, faced with the most serious civil unrest during his term, castigated the "anarchists". The anger that exploded in Minneapolis, Minnesota, after the death last Monday of George Floyd, a 46-year-old black man, at the hands of a white police officer, quickly spread throughout the country.
Joe Biden at a demonstration in Delaware
Demonstrations were also underway in Miami and New York in particular. "Black Lives Matter", "I can't breathe" (the last words spoken by George Floyd), hammered the crowds. Joe Biden, the former vice-president of Barack Obama and candidate for the presidential election of November, announced to have gone on the scene of a demonstration held Saturday in his state of Delaware. The deployment of security forces did not prevent certain overflows, and looters attacked stores of a posh shopping center in Santa Monica on Sunday.
In Philadelphia, on the East Coast, more than 50 people have been arrested for looting since Saturday, police said. The violence had spread Saturday night in many cities, including New York, Philadelphia, Dallas, Las Vegas, Seattle, Des Moines, Memphis, Los Angeles, Atlanta, Miami, Portland, Chicago and Washington. Roads were cut, cars and businesses burnt down, and large numbers of law enforcement officers responded with tear gas and in some cases rubber bullets.
"Please come home early, stay at home (...). We must return to the urgency of building justice, not burn a city," pleaded CNN on Sunday. Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti.