Turmoil in America..Expanding curfew, Trump mocks state governors

Protests in a number of US cities continue to kill George Floyd, forcing authorities to extend the curfew in Washington and other cities, while President Donald Trump has described state governors as weak and called on them to use violence if necessary.

And American media outlets reported an audio leak of a meeting between the American president and state governors that Trump ridiculed the rulers of some states that witnessed protests that were marred by chaos.

The media quoted officials familiar with the matter that Trump urged state governors - during a group call with them - to regain control of the security forces on the streets using force, "otherwise they will crush you and you will appear as a group of fools."

Trump, in a tweet on Twitter, accused various American media of spreading "misinformation" and, in another tweet, demanded the restoration of law and order in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

Trump said shops in the city were being looted, and that the National Guard should be used to deploy to the city, as happened in Minnesota.

Several media outlets said that Illinois Democratic Governor J.P. Pretsker told Trump that his words were making the explosive situation worse, but Trump's Republican response to him was angry.

In Washington, DC, the authorities announced a two-day curfew, against the backdrop of increased protests sparked by video clips of the death of an African American citizen, George Floyd, when a policeman perched his knee on his neck on May 25.

Washington Mayor Muriel Bawser said many shops were damaged and looted during the protests, especially during late Sunday night.

It announced a two-day curfew in Washington, DC, starting at 7 pm today (Monday).

The city of Minneapolis, the epicenter of the protests that pervaded the United States, is in a state of calm, preceding marches that protesters are planning to hold on Monday evening.

Local sources reported that the authorities in the city are negotiating with the leaders of the protests to ensure their safety, and the Al-Jazeera camera has monitored the effects of the massive destruction in one of the city's squares, which witnessed the fiercest protests, and led to the burning of the shops surrounding it completely.

In turn, the mayor of New York City and the city's police commissioner announced that more than 400 people were arrested during the Sunday night protests.

And local media confirmed that the number of detainees from the beginning of the protests until Saturday night reached more than 790 people.

Last night, protesters roamed the streets of Soho neighborhood in New York City, smashing the facades of dozens of shops, before the police could stop some of them.

New York City Mayor Bill de Plazio said that the looting that accompanied the peaceful protests over Floyd’s death was unacceptable, and added - at a press conference - that the people who committed those acts would be prosecuted.

The Mayor of New York also strongly criticized the police run-up operation two days ago, as it dispersed the protests in a city street, and said that special committees had been formed to look into the incident and other incidents that showed abuses by the security men.

And the American authorities imposed a curfew in 40 cities and declared a state of emergency in 3 states, and they detained about four thousand and four hundred in the protests that most American cities have witnessed for more than six days, following the death of Floyd, according to the New York Times news site.

External solidarity

In Canada, thousands of Montreal residents took to the streets, demanding law enforcement in the case of Floyd’s death.

The protesters gathered in front of the city's police headquarters and center to denounce what they described as racial injustice and police brutality in the United States and Montreal. There were clashes between security men and some protesters, as projectiles were thrown at the security forces, who responded with pepper and tear gas.

In New Zealand, demonstrations were held in solidarity with the protests in the United States following the killing of Floyd.

The protesters set out from the parliament building and gathered in front of the American embassy in the capital, Wellington.

The demonstrators held placards in solidarity with the rights of black citizens in the United States, and others denounced what they considered discrimination against them. In Oakland (north of the country), protesters gathered in the city center before marching toward the US Consulate General.

In Belgium, dozens of anti-racist activists organized a silent protest in the center of the capital, Brussels, to condemn what they described as police attacks on African Americans in the United States.

These activists gathered in a city square, although the police did not permit a march called for by a local movement. Organizers said that they decided to cancel the march because they did not obtain permission from the police, and after they were exposed to a wave of criticism on the communication sites for calling them to organize the protest march, despite the current ban on gatherings due to the outbreak of the Corona epidemic.