Despite the curfew in dozens of cities, turmoil throughout the United States has not subsided over the killing of George Floyd at the hands of the police. Meanwhile, President Donald Trump has threatened to deploy the army, and denounced what he called "domestic terrorism."

Protests against Floyd’s killing continued for the seventh night in a row, and while protesters peacefully demonstrated in some cities, violence and unrest erupted in New York, Los Angeles, and Chicago, and there were also reports of shootings by police in Las Vegas and St. Louis.

While President Donald Trump was addressing the first word to Americans since the outbreak of the popular protests and affirming his support for peaceful demonstrators, Washington DC police force forcibly dispersed a peaceful protest near the White House.

Trump said - in his speech from the White House on Monday evening local time - that he would take immediate steps to stop the violence, and that he was about to mobilize the military and civilian resources available for that.

Threatening to deploy the army
Trump has threatened to deploy the army if state governors refuse to call the National Guard, saying "mayors and state governors must impose a significant presence of law enforcement forces until the violence is put down."

"If a city or state refuses to take the necessary steps to defend the lives and property of its residents, I will deploy the US military and solve their problem quickly," he added.

Police fired tear gas and rubber bullets to disperse protesters in "Lafayette Park" opposite the White House (Reuters)

Trump pledged to continue deploying thousands of heavily armed soldiers and police in Washington to stop violence, looting and property destruction, which he said were not peaceful protests but rather "local terrorism."

After his speech, Trump exited the White House and marched in an area vacated for him to a neighboring historic church, where he raised Angela in front of the media lens, alongside his daughter Ivanka and Justice Minister William Barr, and a limited fire broke out in the church during the protests Monday night.

Democrats are attacking the president
and Democratic leaders and public figures have criticized Trump's move, as Senate Democrat leader Chuck Schumer said on Twitter that Trump had ordered gas bombs against peaceful protesters to be able to take a picture and appear as a strong man.

Schumer issued a joint statement with Democratic House Speaker Nancy Pelosi in which they said that the American nation needs real leadership in these delicate circumstances, and accused Trump of continuing to "deepen division, division, hatred and violence, in a move characterized by cowardice, weakness and gravity."

For his part, Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden said that President Trump is using the American army against the American people.

He accused him of using tear gas and rubber bullets against peaceful protesters to take a picture.

Church Archbishop Michael Carey criticized Trump's use of that historic church to take pictures, and wrote on Twitter, "He used the Church and the Holy Bible building for partisan political purposes."

The embargo in Washington and New York
With the nightfall, the authorities imposed a curfew in Washington and New York, along with about 40 American cities in which they took these measures to contain the unrest that erupted after Floyd's killing.

Among the security forces that moved against the protesters at the White House were the National Guard's military police, members of the Secret Service assigned to protect the president, and forces from the Department of Homeland Security, as well as the capital police.

The White House said it was evacuating the area shortly before the curfew entered into force.

On the other hand, a senior official in the Ministry of Defense (the Pentagon) told the island that hundreds of members of the National Guard were summoned from five states to the capital, which is preparing regular armed forces around it.

In remarkable remarks as he inspected members of the National Guard in Washington shortly after Trump's speech, the head of the Joint Chiefs of Staff in the American forces, General Mark Millie, stressed the protection of freedom of expression.

"Our message is to allow freedom of protest and expression, and this is entirely acceptable, and we support that, and we have sworn to loyalty to the United States Constitution and protecting the rights of everyone, and that's what we do, and we have the National Guard here, and I'm checking it," he said.

Police shooting on
the other hand, local media reported that a policeman died after being shot in the head near the headquarters of the Federal Court in Las Vegas, Nevada, without clarifying the circumstances of the accident.

In Missouri, St. Louis city police said that four policemen were shot during protests in the city.

The police added that they were taken to hospital, but their injuries were not serious.

The curfews and security deployments come at levels not seen in the United States since the riots that followed the assassination of Martin Luther King in 1968, and the National Guard was deployed in 23 states and the capital, Washington.

The protests erupted after videos of the death of George Floyd, 46, were spread when a policeman perched with his knee on his neck during his arrest on May 25 in Minneapolis, Minnesota.

Floyd's
autopsy A second autopsy on Floyd's conducted at the request of his family and published on Monday concluded that his death was the result of a murder, which confirms the content of the first autopsy report conducted by the Hinpin County, Minnesota state.

The new report said that three policemen were responsible for Floyd's death.

The Floyd family and his lawyer demanded that the first-degree death penalty be applied to police officer Derek Chauvin, who perched with his knee on Floyd's neck, and to arrest the other two officers - who appeared in the recordings crouching on Floyd's back - on charges of participating in the killing.

Derek Chauven was arrested a few days ago by the authorities on charges of third-degree murder and second-degree manslaughter, and no charges were brought against the other officers who participated in Floyd's arrest.