George Floyd’s brother calls for death penalty for Derek Chauvin

George Floyd’s brother has called for all the officers involved in his death to be charged with murder and given the death penalty.

George Floyd’s brother has called for all the officers involved his death to be charged with first degree murder and given the death penalty.

Mr Floyd died after being arrested and having an officer kneel on his neck for several minutes in the city of Minneapolis.

Harrowing footage of the incident showed the 46-year-old pleading for air as officer Derek Chauvin knelt on his neck.

All four officers involved in the arrest have been fired, with Mr Chauvin also arrested and charged with third degree murder.

George Floyd died after a police officer in Minneapolis held him down on the street with his knee in the back of his neck.

Harrowing footage of the incident showed Mr Floyd repeatedly telling the officer he couldn’t breathe. Picture: Darnella Frazier/AP

But Mr Floyd’s brother, Philonise, said that wasn’t enough and is calling for all the officers involved to be arrested and charged with murder.

“They all need to be convicted of first degree murder and given the death penalty because they didn’t care about what they wanted to do with my brother. He wasn’t a person to them, he was scum, he was nothing,” Philonise told news station MSNBC.

“I don’t need them on the streets to kill anybody else. I’m hurt, my family his hurt, his kids are hurt. They will grow up without a father.”

Philonise told the station he wanted “a life for a life”.

“A crime is a crime. If I had committed the crime I would have been locked up the same day. Everybody knows that,” he said.

Mr Floyd was arrested after he was suspected of using a counterfeit $20 note to buy a pack of cigarettes.

“To kill a man who you were trying to say (committed) forgery. And you killed him for that? You couldn’t restrain him in any way to put him inside of the car and take him to jail and find out?” Philonise said.

“You killed him. That was hatred. Nobody deserves that.”

George Floyd's brother called for all the police involved to be charged with murder. Picture: MSNBC

US President Donald Trump announced on Saturday that he had spoken with Mr Floyd’s family and “expressed the sorrow of our entire nation for their loss”.

But Philonise claims the President barely even let him speak during their phone call.

“It was so fast, he didn’t give me the opportunity to even speak. It was hard. I was trying to talk to him but he just kept pushing me off like, ‘I don’t want to hear what you’re talking about’,” he said.

“I just told him I want justice. I said that I can’t believe they committed a modern day lynching in broad daylight. I can’t stand for that.”

Philonise said he also spoke with Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden and begged him to get justice for his brother.

Mr Floyd’s death sparked violent protests in Minneapolis, with demonstrations now occurring in multiple states across the US.

What started out at peaceful protests have given way to looting and rioting, with police buildings and cars set on fire.

Demonstrators stand on a smashed police vehicle in the Fairfax District as they protest the death of George Floyd in Los Angeles. Picture: Mark Ralston/AFP

Police react after a demonstrator threw back a tear gas canister during a demonstration next to the city of Miami Police Department. Picture: Wilfredo Lee/AP

Police officers across the country are gearing up for another night of potentially violent protests across major cities.

Some states had even called in the National Guard to aid overwhelmed police.

Government officials warned of groups of organised rioters flooding into major cities in a bid to ramp up the violence and destruction.

But state and federal officials can’t seem to decide on who these "outsiders” actually are.

Minnesota Governor Tim Walz on Saturday told reporters he had heard unconfirmed reports that white supremacists were coming from elsewhere to stoke the violence and that even drug cartels “are trying to take advantage of the chaos”.

John Harrington, the state’s commissioner of public safety, later said they had received intel reports on white supremacists.

“But I cannot say that we have confirmed observations of local law enforcement to say that we’ve seen cells of white supremacists in the area,” he said Saturday.

Federal officials later pointed to “far left extremist groups”.

Protesters pour milk in the eyes of a woman affected by teargas during a rally at the Miami Police Department. Picture: Wilfredo Lee/AP

A protester looks on as a flipped over police vehicle burns in Salt Lake City. Picture: Rick Bowmer/AP

Mr Trump alleged the violence was “being led by Antifa and other radical groups”.

Antifa, short for anti-fascists, is an umbrella term for far-left-leaning militant groups that resist neo-Nazis and white supremacists at demonstrations.

Acting Homeland Security secretary Chad Wolf was even more vague, declining to point to any particular ideology in his assessment.

His agency has heard that “a number of different groups are involved in these whether it’s Antifa or it’s others, frankly,” he said.

The groups appeared to be organised and using tactics that wouldn’t normally happen in peaceful protest, he said, though he didn’t elaborate.

With AP