Protests live updates: 'Lots of blood loss': Reporters shot in Seattle
Terrifying footage shows reporters being "knocked out" by police and streets covered in gas as protests across the US continue. Warning: Graphic
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June 8, 2020 - 11:03AM
Chaotic scenes are unfolding in Seattle with streets covered in tear gas and reporters being shot.
People are sharing terrifying footage of police "aggressively" dispersing protesters not far from a George Floyd vigil.
Earlier a man was filmed driving through a barricade, ploughing into crowds before exiting the car with a gun and shooting a protester.
Meanwhile, police and members of the public have knelt to wash the feet of black community leaders at a rally in Cary, North Carolina, as global protests against Floyd's death continue.
The Minneapolis City Council has also voted to disband the city's police department in response to the May 25 incident, when a white officer pressed his knee into Mr Floyd’s neck, ignoring his "I can't breathe" cries.
It comes as UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson condemns scenes of violence that saw dozens arrested and police officers injured on Sunday, in the 12th day of protests that have taken place across the US and around the world.
Follow our live coverage below.
Updates
Americans say country is ‘out of control'
A new poll shows the overwhelming majority of American voters believe that things are “out of control” in the country.
The NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll asked, "When it comes to the country these days, do you generally feel that things in the country are…"
Eighty per cent of respondents chose "out of control" versus 15 per cent who chose "under control".
When asked who they would choose “if the presidential election were held today", voters responded 49 percent for former Vice President Joe Biden versus 42 percent for Donald Trump, with the rest unsure or choosing neither.
Photographer describes 'apocalyptic' scenes
Freelance visual journalist Lindsey Wasson has been sharing some incredible images from the chaos that's unfolded in Seattle overnight.
In her latest picture she described one of the more "apocalyptic scenes" she had ever witnessed.
The scene earlier in the evening at 11th Ave & E Pine during the first deployment of chemical agents/pepper spray/smoke/blast balls etc. Perhaps one of the more apocalyptic scenes I've ever witnessed. I never thought I'd be wearing kevlar and a gas mask at home. #Seattleprotestspic.twitter.com/hgw7Eo2QPU
She said "apocalyptically" a band was still playing a block away from where crowds dispersed.
"What I believe is 'Zombie' by the Cranberries," she wrote on Twitter.
Murders and shootings increase in NYC
Shootings and murders have skyrocketed in New York City amid the protests, law enforcement officials have told the NY Post.
Sources told the newspaper from last Monday to Sunday night, there were 13 murders in the city, compared to five during the same week last year.
They said the city reported 40 shootings last week — the most in a week since 2015. In the same time period in 2019, there were 24 shootings.
'Lots of blood loss': Reporters shot
Warning: Graphic footage
Terrifying footage is emerging from Seattle as reporters get shot with rubber bullets and streets get covered in tear gas.
One man shared footage of two members of the media getting "knocked out" by police with rubber bullets.
Another man tweeted, "Reporter hit with flash bang in the chest. Lots of blood loss".
A member of the independent media was just knocked out by a flash bang industries after police, unprovoked, shot a protestor from 50 feet away. pic.twitter.com/AN9Qa0JrVm
Footage from the protests, which started out peaceful, show a street outside of the East Precinct on Capitol Hill "coverage in gas".
Chase Burns, digital editor at The Stranger, said police were "aggressively" dispersing protesters.
"Haven’t seen anything like this so far," he wrote on Twitter.
"Capitol Hill right now. Everyone in the office is coughing, eyes hurt, confusion.
"Some protesters yelling, 'we are not f**king leaving' while they retrieve their belongings. Same spot where a man pulled up and shot a protester earlier today, feet away from a George Floyd vigil."
Demonstrators can be seen running and crying out in pain.
The Seattle Police Department said the crowd was throwing "bottle, rocks, fireworks and other projectiles at officers".
"The crowd is shining green lasers into officers' eyes," they wrote on Twitter.
"Officers are responding with OC Spray and blast balls."
They said they had issues multiple warnings for demonstrators to move after someone threw a glass bottle and struck a national guard member in the head.
Police share lethal umbrella weapon
Portland Police have warned despite protests being peaceful, some people are still coming armed.
They shared a photo of a weapon seized, a knife that had been attached to an umbrella.
Public safety advisory: This umbrella converted to a weapon was recovered after last night’s demonstration downtown. While many people are intent on remaining peaceful, we want to ensure participants & media take precautions and report any criminal acts that could injure others. pic.twitter.com/jGhDjQ1ugI
A man allegedly drove his car through a police barricade and smashed into a group of protesters, shooting one of them, in Seattle today.
The man reportedly headed towards a crowd of protesters in the city's Capitol Hill district before getting out of the car brandishing a gun.
"He exited his car and flashed a gun," a man tweeted with footage of the incident.
"The police say they have the man in custody and have the gun.
"They asked for anybody who is hurt to come to the barricade. A man was on the ground on 11th and Pine. He’s up now."
A 27-year-old man suffered a gunshot wound and was taken to the hospital in stable condition.
A man drove through 11th and hit a barricade. He exited his car and flashed a gun. The police say they have the man in custody and have the gun. They asked for anybody who is hurt to come to the barricade. A man was on the ground on 11th and Pine. He’s up now. pic.twitter.com/47eZZOvG59
A number of other people were reportedly injured at the scene.
The victim said he saw the car coming down the street and pursued it to try and protect the crowd.
The man said he punched the driver before being shot.
Photographer Alex Garland posted a video of the victim as paramedics helped him down the street. Another photographer, Lindsey Wasson, also shared an incredible shot from the scene.
Sorry it's not a great image– had barely stepped to a dirty window when this happened, but here is one image of the man brandishing a gun after shooting one man below in the arm. Shooter was wearing an ironworkers hoodie. Victim is in stable condition. #seattleprotestpic.twitter.com/aGWGvnLbO8
Story unclear at the moment but young man shot on 11th and Pine. Daniel, 26, wanted to tell his story. With the help of other medics I got a tourniquet on his arm. Street medics were on the spot with gauze and pressure. He walked off the scene. pic.twitter.com/g9Ism58YkF
Sports footwear giant Reebok has decided to end its partnership with CrossFit Inc. later this year following an insensitive comment by the fitness organisation’s chief executive concerning protests against racial injustice roiling the US.
Reebok said it would make the move once it fulfils its current contract obligation as the title sponsor for the 2020 CrossFit Games.
“Recently, we have been in discussions regarding a new agreement, however, in light of recent events, we have made the decision to end our partnership with CrossFit HQ,” Reebok said.
CrossFit chief executive Greg Glassman tweeted, “It’s FLOYD-19” on Saturday after the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation classified racism and discrimination as a public health issue.
Human rights groups expressed outrage at the tweet, calling it insensitive to the current events and the death of George Floyd, an African American man who died in police custody on May 25 in Minneapolis, Minnesota.
Reebok and CrossFit previously signed a deal that named the athletic footwear company as the title sponsor for the CrossFit Games.
Other affiliates like CrossFit Magnus also decided to cut ties with the Washington, DC-based global fitness organisation.
“After eight years as a CrossFit affiliate we are ending our affiliation,” CrossFit Magnus spokesman Nick Hurndon wrote in a social media post.
“We will no longer continue to ‘carry your water,’ as it is antithetical to anything we stand for and only serves the continuation of systemic racism.”
CrossFit has over 13,000 gyms in more than 120 countries and generates some US$4 billion in annual revenues.
Man charged over looting murder
A 24-year-old St. Louis man has been charged with first-degree murder in the fatal shooting of a retired police captain who died on a night of violent protests while trying to protect his friend’s pawn shop, the city’s prosecutor announced Sunday.
Stephan Cannon was being held without bond on a first-degree murder charge in the death of David Dorn, 77, who was killed Tuesday on the sidewalk outside Lee’s Pawn and Jewelry.
Dorn’s last moments were caught on video and apparently posted on Facebook Live, though the video has since been taken down.
Dorn’s death came on a violent night in St. Louis, where four officers were shot, officers were pelted with rocks and fireworks, and 55 businesses were burglarised or damaged, including a convenience store that burned.
The unrest came as cities across the US have seen protests and violence since George Floyd died May 25 after a white Minneapolis officer pressed his knee into Floyd’s neck for several minutes, even after the handcuffed black man stopped moving and pleading for air.
St. Louis Circuit Attorney Kim Gardner announced the charges.
According to a police probable cause statement, Cannon was among those seen on surveillance footage entering the store and then stealing several televisions, The St. Louis Post-Dispatch reported.
Dorn, a friend of the pawn shop’s owner who was in the habit of checking on the business when alarms went off, arrived at the store.
Cannon then walked toward the street corner with gun in his hand.
“At the time the shots were fired, (Cannon) was the only person standing at that corner,” the probable cause statement reads.
“Multiple plumes of smoke” can be seen coming from where Cannon was standing, and shell casings were found on the spot, police said.
Cannon also faces several other charges including robbery and felon in possession of a firearm.
AP
City to disband police force
A majority of the members of the Minneapolis City Council said Sunday they support disbanding the city’s police department, an aggressive stance that comes just as the state has launched a civil rights investigation after George Floyd’s death.
Nine of the council’s 12 members appeared with activists at a rally in a city park Sunday afternoon and vowed to end policing as the city currently knows it.
Council member Jeremiah Ellison promised that the council would “dismantle” the department.
“It is clear that our system of policing is not keeping our communities safe,” Lisa Bender, the council president, said.
“Our efforts at incremental reform have failed, period.”
Bender went on to say she and the eight other council members that joined the rally are committed to ending the city’s relationship with the police force and “to end policing as we know it and recreate systems that actually keep us safe.”
Floyd, a handcuffed black man, died May 25 after a white officer pressed his knee into Floyd’s neck, ignoring his “I can’t breathe” cries and holding it there even after Floyd stopped moving.
His death sparked protests – some violent, many peaceful – that spread nationwide.
Community activists have criticised the Minneapolis department for years for what they say is a racist and brutal culture that resists change.
The state of Minnesota launched a civil rights investigation of the department last week, and the first concrete changes came Friday in a stipulated agreement in which the city agreed to ban chokeholds and neck restraints.
A more complete remaking of the department is likely to unfold in coming months.
Disbanding an entire department has happened before.
In 2012, with crime rampant in Camden, New Jersey, the city disbanded its police department and replaced it with a new force that covered Camden County.
Compton, California, took the same step in 2000, shifting its policing to Los Angeles County.
It was a step that then-Attorney General Eric Holder said the Justice Department was considering for Ferguson, Missouri, after the death of Michael Brown.
The city eventually reached an agreement short of that but one that required massive reforms overseen by a court-appointed mediator.
The move to defund or abolish the Minneapolis department is far from assured, with the civil rights investigation likely to unfold over the next several months.
On Saturday, activists for defunding the department staged a protest outside Mayor Jacob Frey’s home. Frey came out to talk with them.
“I have been coming to grips with my own responsibility, my own failure in this,” Frey said.
When pressed on whether he supported their demands, Frey said, “I do not support the full abolition of the police department.”
He left to booing.
At another march Saturday during which leaders called for defunding the department, Verbena Dempster said she supported the idea.
“I think, honestly, we’re too far past” the chance for reform, Dempster told Minnesota Public Radio. “We just have to take down the whole system.”
AP
Police 'wash feet' of black leaders
Police, pastors and members of the public have knelt to wash the feet of black community leaders at a rally in Cary, North Carolina.
Honored to join the many at the Unity Prayer Walk in #CaryNC. Several stops to pray. Poignant moment when @Morrisville_NC Chief Andrews shares her family story & pastors and police stop to wash the feet of black community leaders. #BlackLivesMattterpic.twitter.com/oHt6fWJPuh
Fleets of dozens of mysterious UFO drones are surveilling America’s most sensitive military sites, and the Pentagon says it can’t do much to stop them.
Amid all the chaos at home, officials have warned Americans to stay vigilant as foreign actors stick their fingers into the nation’s nuclear political climate.
