The US capital, Washington, witnessed clashes between police and demonstrators, as a curfew imposed by the US authorities began to control the demonstrations that erupted days ago in several states in protest against the killing of an African American youth by the police.

Fox News quoted a US official as saying that more than fifty members of the Secret Service police service were wounded in Washington.

And Washington, DC, and dozens of other American cities are witnessing protests against the killing of the black American young man, George Floyd, a few days ago in Minneapolis, Minnesota, in the north of the country, in events described by the Wall Street Journal as the worst civil unrest in decades in the United States.

Fires near the White House

For its part, the Associated Press stated that all the elements of the National Guard of the capital, Washington, which are estimated to be about 1,200 soldiers, were summoned.

The Washington Post also reported that a number of cars had been burned in areas surrounding the White House, and said that a fire had been extinguished on the basement of St. John's Church in the same area.

And the authorities imposed a curfew on Sunday in Washington, after new demonstrations broke out near the White House, according to the mayor of the capital, Morr Bawser.

Bowser wrote on Twitter that he had ordered the deployment of the National Guard in the city to support the police, and that the guard had been tightened over the White House.

Protests expanded

Protests have expanded in several US states days ago. American cities witnessed a curfew, including Los Angeles, Philadelphia, and Atlanta, while the US National Guard deployed five thousand members of its forces and air forces in 15 states, in addition to the capital, Washington.

US President Donald Trump has accused the left-wing anti-fascist movement, Antiva, of being behind the protests, stressing that he will classify it as a "terrorist organization."

The resurgence of the movement of "Antiva" in the United States is linked to events that occurred after Trump's accession to the presidency after it had been dormant for many years.

For his part, US Secretary of Justice William Barr stated that the violence incited and carried out by the "Antiva" group and other similar groups is "internal terrorism, and it will be dealt with accordingly."

"Violent radical elements have hijacked the voices of legitimate peaceful protests," Barr said, and "groups of extremists and external agitators are exploiting the situation to work on their separate, violent and extremist agenda."

dead and wounded

On Sunday, clashes between police and demonstrators resulted in the death of five people and the injury of others, four of them in the city of Minneapolis and the fifth dead in the city of Indianapolis.

Two of the Reuters television crew were also injured by rubber bullets, when police entered an area where about 500 protesters had started after the curfew began in Minneapolis.

President Trump has demanded state and mayor rulers be more resolute in the face of protests, and has signaled the use of unlimited military force and arrests to stabilize conditions if they do not do what must be done.

Call for calm

For his part, US presidential candidate Joe Biden on Sunday called on protesters not to resort to violence in protest of the "brutality" of police practices.

Biden said in a statement that "protesting against such brutal practices is right and necessary, but burning and causing pointless destruction are not. We are a nation in pain, but we must not let this pain destroy us."

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi also said that what was seen in the video of the arrest of George Floyd was a murder and execution on the air, noting that other police personnel appearing in the video would have been considered in various circumstances to be complicit in the crime.

Pelosi, in an interview with the American "ABC" station, expressed her concern about the third degree murder charge of the policeman involved.