George Floyd: Blackhawks fly low on protesters in Washington DC as Donald Trump vows to deploy military
The US Army has deployed Blackhawk choppers to fly over the top of protesters after Donald Trump warned he will deploy the military. His threat hasn’t stopped the riots as police were injured by a car that drove at them in New York.
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The US Army has deployed helicopters to fly over the top of protesters after Donald Trump warned he will send in “thousands” of troops to restore order in the nation’s capital.
This comes as looting and riots have broken out again in cities across the country, with a record 17,000 National Guard members deployed and 13 cities across six states having declared states of emergency.
Many New Yorkers stayed out past the newly installed 11pm curfew, with a mainly peaceful march that included families and children through Brooklyn contrasting to the chaos in Manhattan.
Witnesses described organised bands of mainly young looters smashing through shops across downtown and midtown, with some acting as scouts on bikes or pulling up in cars and emptying goods from the Nike, Lego and Gamestop stores into bags and then moving on.
Two police officers were seriously injured after a car drove at them as they faced down demonstrators on a street in Buffalo, in upstate New York. The attack was caught on a shocking video, and police said two other people were shot.
Dozens of people were arrested for defying curfew on Sunset Blvd, in Hollywood, and there were reports of looting nearby.
In a moving moment in Nashville, Tennessee, more than 60 National Guard troops put their shields down when a crowd of protesters asked them to let them sing outside the Capitol building.
And in the city where the problems started, an increased National Guard and strict curfew was working to calm the situation in Minneapolis.
On the Seventh Day of unrest, Minnesota Governor Tim Walz said he was cautiously optimistic and planned to withdraw some of the 7,000 National Guard troops the state had called in.
National Guard Major General Jon Jensen said the city was in “a much more stable position”, after a day of mainly peaceful protests over the death of unarmed black man George Floyd.
A tally from the Associated Press found more than 5,600 arrests since protests broke out a week ago, 155 of them in Minneapolis, 800 in New York City and more than 900 in Los Angeles.
AUSTRALIAN BUSINESS DAMAGED BY LOOTING
Australian homewares brand Dinosaur Designs has also fallen victim to the looting and riots in New York.
Speaking from her Sydney office, co-founder Louise Olsen said staff at the US store were still assessing the damage.
“Our front window was smashed and stock was taken out of the window,” she said. “That is what we know so far and it is just being assessed at the moment.”
Olsen also took to social media to share images of the damage.
“We were looted last night in our store on Crosby Street, SoHo NYC,” she wrote. “Praying for NYC & America. The result of larger issues at hand, we stand in solidarity with black lives matter. #blacklivesmatter.”
Dinosaur Designs was founded by Olsen and Stephen Ormandy some 35 years ago and quickly became a global brand known for its high quality handcrafted resin homewares and jewellery. They have just one shopfront in New York.
“Obviously there are bigger issues than what has happened to Dinosaur and that really humbles you but then on the other hand, we want to be able to get back on our feet again and support the city in a positive way,” Olsen said. “It is just surviving it that is the problem.”
HELICOPTERS USED ON PROTESTERS
As crowds in Washington DC defied a 7pm curfew and massed in the city’s Chinatown district, an Army Blackhawk descended to rooftop level.
They then made another pass of the city block after the crowd had cleared.
UH-60 Blackhawk - GUARD COPTER 7822973 dusting protesters in Washington DC This helicopter can put out hurricane force winds pic.twitter.com/SHeJdmdpYu
— Thenewarea51 (@thenewarea51) June 2, 2020
Video shows other helicopters hovering above crowds in DC and New York until they dispersed, in what the military describes as a “show of force”.
Mr Trump said in his address to the nation he was sending: “thousands and thousands of heavily armed soldiers, military personnel and law enforcement officers to stop the rioting, looting, vandalism, assaults and the wanton destruction of property.”
“We will end it now,” he said.
It comes after US President Donald Trump warned governors he will send in the US military if they can’t control the violent unrest exploding across America.
Mr Trump said if state authorities failed to call in the National Guard to quell the riots, he would “quickly solve the problem for them”.
As Mr Trump spoke, explosions could be heard outside the White House as police in riot gear and on horseback deployed tear gas to clear thousands of demonstrators.
It was the President’s first address to the nation in two days and came after America descended over the weekend into its worst civil unrest in decades.
“I swore an oath to uphold the laws of our nation and that is exactly what I will do,” he said in the Rose Garden.
Calling for “healing not hatred” he recounted a litany of violent crimes committed by “professional anarchists”.
“These are not acts of peaceful protest, these are acts of domestic terror, the destruction of innocent life and the spilling of innocent blood is an offence to humanity,” he said.
“I am taking immediate presidential action to stop the violence and restore security and safety in America.
“We will end it now.”
Mr Trump said: “I have strongly recommended every governor to deploy the National Guard in sufficient numbers that we dominate the streets”.
“If a city of state refuses to take the actions necessary that are necessary to defend the life and property of their residents then I will deploy the United States military and quickly solve the problem for them,” he said.
Mr Trump said he would also take “swift and decisive action” to protect the nation’s capital.
“What happened in this city last night was a total disgrace,” he said.
“As we speak I am dispatching thousands and thousands of heavily armed soldiers, military personnel and law enforcement officers to stop the rioting.”
Mr Trump also announced a 7pm curfew for Washington DC.
“I want the organisers of this terror to be on notice that you will severe penalties and lengthy sentences in jail. This includes Antifa and others who are leading instigators of this violence.”
After his address to the nation, Mr Trump left the White House grounds to visit a church that was set alight the night before.
TRUMP’S POWER TO USE THE MILITARY
The federal government has the power to instruct the military to operate on domestic soil if the Insurrection Act of 1807 is enacted. It was not immediately clear whether Mr Trump has done this.
If the law was invoked, it would be the first time active military have been deployed to counter civil unrest in almost 30 years, since the race riots stemming from the Rodney King trial in 1992.
Mr Trump was briefed earlier Monday by his national security team about the act.
Some states were immediately dismissive of Mr Trump’s authority to send in the military.
“President Trump is not a dictator & he doesn’t have the right to unilaterally deploy U.S. military across American states,” New York Attorney-General Letitia James tweeted.
“We will guard the right to peaceful protest & will not hesitate to go to court to protect our constitutional rights during this time & well into the future.”
More than two 67,000 National Guard troops have been deployed across America, the largest number ever activated at once.
Meanwhile, 13 cities across six have declared states of emergency.
NEW AUTOPSY RESULTS FOR GEORGE FLOYD
Two autopsies have declared George Floyd’s death was homicide, a week after his death beneath the knee of a white cop sparked nationwide protests and riots.
An independent autopsy commissioned by George Floyd’s family found the 46-year-old’s death was a homicide and that he died of “asphyxiation from sustained pressure”.
The autopsy, which was released early Monday by his legal team, said compression to Floyd’s neck and back led to a lack of blood flow to his brain.
Floyd was essentially “dead on the scene” in Minneapolis on May 25, said lawyer Ben Crump, who is representing the Floyd family.
A second autopsy released Monday afternoon by authorities in Minneapolis also found his death was a homicide.
Hennepin County’s medical examiner said Mr Floyd’s death was a homicide resulting from being restrained.
The statement said the cause of death was “cardiopulmonary arrest complicating law enforcement subdual, restrain, and neck compression.”
The new report also notes other significant conditions such as arteriosclerotic and hypertensive heart disease, fentanyl intoxication and recent methamphetamine use.
An initial report released last week found the effects of being restrained, along with underlying health issues and potential intoxicants in Mr Floyd’s system, had killed him.
But that report, which was part of the criminal complaint against Derek Chauvin, the officer charged with his murder, found nothing “to support a diagnosis of traumatic asphyxia or strangulation”.
The new ME autopsy will bolster the criminal case against Chauvin and the three other Minneapolis police officers who restrained him, but have yet to be charged.
Floyd, a black man who was in handcuffs at the time, died after the white officer ignored bystander shouts to get off him and Floyd’s cries that he couldn’t breathe.
Multiple videos of Floyd’s death show former police officer Derek Chauvin’s knee on Floyd’s neck, along with other officers kneeling on his back.
Chauvin had his knee on Floyd’s neck for 8 minutes and 46 seconds in total and two minutes and 53 seconds after Floyd was unresponsive, according to a criminal complaint released by the Hennepin County Attorney’s Office.
His death, captured on citizen video, sparked days of protests in Minneapolis that have spread to cities around America.
It comes as the man charged with Floyd’s death was moved to a maximum-security prison over fears for his safety.
Derek Chauvin, 44, was transferred to Oak Park Heights Prison – Minnesota’s only Level Five maximum security facility.
He was previously at Ramsey County Adult Detention Center where he was on suicide watch, before being moved to the Hennepin County Jail because of COVID-19 concerns but then moved to the high-security prison.
The Minnesota Department of Corrections (DOC) reportedly said that Chauvin was transferred to prison and placed in “administrative segregation” – solitary confinement – after a plea from the Hennepin County Sheriff.
TRUMP CALLS GOVERNORS ‘WEAK’, ‘JERKS’
It comes as Donald Trump has blamed US state governors for the chaos engulfing America, telling them they were not doing enough to control the uprisings.
“You have to dominate, if you don’t dominate you’re wasting your time,” he told them on a phone call, according to reports.
“They’re going to run over you, you’re going to look like a bunch of jerks. You have to dominate – you to take back your streets,” audio of the call revealed.
According to reports, Mr Trump slammed the state governors on the call, referring to them as “weak” in response to demonstrations that have often turned violent.
“The only time it’s successful is when you’re weak and most of you are weak,” he said, according to reports, claiming that if governors and local leaders were more tough on rioters, there would be less destruction of their cities.
“You’ve got to arrest people, you have to track people, you have to put them in jail for 10 years and you’ll never see this stuff again,” Mr Trump said during the almost hour-long call.
“We’re doing it in Washington, DC. We’re going to do something that people haven’t seen before.”
States have authority over law enforcement in the US, and usually need to request the National Guard, part of the military, to step in, as 21 already have. Governors are the equivalent of state premiers in Australia.
Mr Trump has said some rioters would be charged as terrorists, as organised resistance groups were increasingly identified as infiltrating and inflaming the mayhem.
OBAMA CONDEMNS VIOLENCE
Meanwhile, former President Barack Obama has condemned violence amid protests over the death of George Floyd and police brutality and called for political solutions to address the grievances of protesters.
Last week, Mr Obama decried Floyd’s death, saying it “shouldn’t be normal” in 2020 America.
“Let’s not excuse violence, or rationalise it, or participate in it. If we want our criminal justice system, and American society at large, to operate on a higher ethical code, then we have to model that code ourselves,” Mr Obama wrote in an essay on Medium.
“The waves of protests across the country represent a genuine and legitimate frustration over a decades-long failure to reform police practices and the broader criminal justice system in the United States,” Mr Obama wrote.
“The overwhelming majority of participants have been peaceful, courageous, responsible, and inspiring. They deserve our respect and support, not condemnation.”
Floyd's brother Terrence said his sibling was a “peaceful motivator” who would have rejected the violence now prevalent on America’s streets.
“He was about unity,” Terrence Floyd told Good Morning America on Monday (local time).
“The things that are transpiring now, they may call it unity, but it’s destructive unity. It’s not what my brother was about.”
Later, Terrence Floyd also spoke to protesters in Minneapolis, where he again made an emotional plea for peace at the site of where his brother was pinned to the footpath by a policeman who put his knee on the handcuffed black’s man neck for several minutes.
“Let’s switch it up ya’ll. Let’s switch it up. Do this peacefully, please,” Terrence Floyd said.
US IN CRISIS AS PROTESTS RAGE
It comes as cities around the US braced for another round of violent protests on Monday while struggling to keep police in line and prevent the kind of heavy-handed tactics that contributed to the unrest in the first place.
On Sunday night cities across America burned for the sixth straight night of chaotic protests as the US descended into its worst civil unrest in decades.
Buildings surrounding the White House were torched as hundreds of rioters engaged in running battles with police and Army troops in neighbouring Lafayette Park and through the streets of Washington DC.
Police were assaulted and some reacted with brutality, as 140 cities across the country erupted into protests over the death of George Floyd.
It was also revealed that Mr Trump had been rushed by the Secret Service to a White House bunker used during terror attacks on Friday night as tensions heightened.
National Guard troops fanned out across 21 states and Washington DC after 5000 personnel were activated, while curfews were defied in some of the 40 cities in 20 states that had declared them.
In Minneapolis, where Floyd’s death under the knee of a white police officer a week ago sparked the protests, a semi-trailer ploughed into a marching crowd who had closed a highway.
There were no confirmed injuries and the truck driver was arrested after being mobbed.
“The incident underscores the volatile situation we have out there,” said Governor Tim Walz.
Minneapolis Police Chief Medaria Arradondo also described Mr Floyd’s death as “a violation of humanity” and apologised to his family.
“I am absolutely, devastatingly sorry for their loss,” he said of his family.
“If I could do anytime to bring Mr Floyd back, I would do that. I would move heaven and earth do that.”
The city also experienced its first de-escalation, with a bolstered police and National Guard presence curbing lawlessness.
“Our goal was accomplished,” said Colonel Matt Langer of the Minnesota State Patrol.
“Fires were not set. We didn’t see the lawlessness, the risk to personal safety. Property destruction was stemmed.”
This was not the case in many other states.
The rioters tearing American cities apart yesterday came out stronger, and far earlier, overshadowing mostly peaceful demonstrations in many cases.
Bands of looters openly ransacked shops, businesses and banks from Los Angeles to New York throughout Sunday and into the night.
The brazen daylight thieves were filmed emptying-out stores in multiple US cities including Chicago and Philadelphia.
Some store owners who tried to defend their property were filmed being beaten by thugs.
In Santa Monica, police fired tear gas and pepper spray at the rabble who stripped shops, businesses in Rodeo Drive were trashed and New York’s Fifth Avenue was lined with boarded-up stores.
MORRISON ‘DISTURBED’ BY SCENES IN THE US
Tens of thousands of demonstrators took to New York City streets for a fourth night, some throwing bottles at police, setting fires and committing widespread looting.
Prime Minister Scott Morrison said he was disturbed by the scenes from the US, particularly the video of Mr Floyd being restrained as he died.
“As upsetting and terrible that the murder that took place – and it is shocking, that also just made me cringe – I just think to myself how wonderful a country is Australia,” he said.
He also cautioned against similar demonstrations in Australia turning violent, with local protests planned for later this week.
“There’s no need to import things happening in other countries here to Australia.
“Australia is not the United States. The United States is a great country. They’re a great friend of Australia and they’re going through a difficult time. We wish them all the best as they deal with that.”
Australians in the US were also warned to “avoid large gatherings” by a new warning on the Australian government’s Smartraveller site.
PROTESTERS CLIMB WHITE HOUSE BARRICADES
Thousands of protesters gathered outside the White House, some pushing past security and climbing on top of barricades.
They were mainly peaceful during the day but tensions soared as night fell. Gunshots were heard in inner city neighbourhoods and dozens of shops and businesses were ransacked.
Firefighters extinguished a fire set in the basement of the historic St John’s Episcopal Church, and arsonists lit structures surrounding the White House.
It came amid revelations Mr Trump was rushed by the Secret Service into a bunker as protesters tried to break into the White House on Friday night.
As hundreds of protesters tried to breach the Secret Service cordon, Mr Trump’s security detail moved him to an underground bunker previously used in terror attacks.
It was not clear if First Lady Melania Trump and their son Barron were also escorted to the bunker.
Mr Trump reportedly spent under an hour there before returning to the Oval Office.
The next morning he tweeted that any protesters would have been met by “vicious dogs” and “ominous weapons”.
The White House has not commented on the reports.
TRUMP POINTS FINGER AT ‘RADICAL LEFT’
Mr Trump said on Sunday that far-left anarchist group Antifa would be designated a terrorist organisation and that the “radical left” were responsible for stoking the unrest.
The White House has increasingly said Antifa, a militant coalition which stands for “anti fascists” and seeks to physically confront and bring down the far-right, are turning major cities across the country into war zones.
“This is being driven by Antifa,” national security adviser Robert O’Brien said on Sunday, local time.
“They’re militants who are coming in and burning our cities, and we’re going to get to the bottom of it.”
Other authorities have laid the blame more broadly, with Minnesota’s Democratic governor saying their rioters included white supremacists and cartel members.
And Republican Senator Marco Rubio said the rioters “don’t fit a simple left vs. right identity” and they included the far right Boogaloo group, which aims to start a new civil war.
“In city after city we have a rogues gallery of terrorists from Antifa to ‘Boogaloo’ groups encouraging & committing violence,” he said on Twitter.
Many protesters are reporting injuries from police rubber bullets, pepper spray and teargas.
One of the many injured was a 21-year-old protester who lost his right eye after he was struck by a teargas canister in demonstrations in Indiana, according to the New York Post.
To anybody curious. My eye ruptured when a FWPD Officer unnecessarily and improperly fired a tear gas canister at my head hitting my eye. I’ll be fine but I’m probably losing my eye after surgery tomorrow. https://t.co/Nd1hfAJPX0
— lens (@notbalin) May 31, 2020
Balin Brake said he ran when police ordered the crowd to disperse at protests in Fort Wayne, but he was struck in the eye, which required surgery, but he tweeted that he is likely to be blind in that eye now.
Originally published as George Floyd: Blackhawks fly low on protesters in Washington DC as Donald Trump vows to deploy military