Minneapolis prosecutors argued Friday that the four ex-cops charged in George Floyd’s death should face a single jury after participating in the May 25 incident “together”—but their lawyers argued a collective trial would be against the “interest of justice” in the latest indication the men are turning on each other. During a court appearance, attorneys for Derek Chauvin, Tou Thao, Thomas K. Lane, and J. Alexander Kueng argued each of their clients should get their own trial, highlighting the media scrutiny of the case and the differing roles each played in the tragic arrest. In filings prior to Friday’s hearing, each […]
George Floyd
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As nearby volunteers in reflective vests and medical-grade face masks swept broken glass and righted overturned trash cans in Wilmington, Delaware, earlier this summer, former Vice President Joe Biden promised to heal the pain of civil unrest sparked by racist violence. “We are a nation enraged, but we cannot allow our rage to consume us,” Biden vowed, one day after a night of protests and scattered vandalism in Wilmington, in reaction to the death of George Floyd at the hands of police officers in Minneapolis. It was Biden’s first major public appearance since the coronavirus pandemic sidelined his campaign for the […]
KENOSHA, Wisconsin—The first time Joe Biden was scheduled to arrive in Wisconsin was two weeks ago to celebrate his ascent to the top of the Democratic presidential ticket. Instead, when he stepped off a plane on Thursday, he and his wife, Jill, encountered a family in mourning and a city hurting from the physical and emotional toll of systematic racism. The bleak circumstances gave Biden a forum to show how he would attempt to mend the nation struggling with cycles of crisis and demonstrate just how different he is from President Donald Trump, who was in the same location just two […]
A 41-year-old Black man suffocated to death in March after police in Rochester, New York, pinned him to the ground. Though Daniel Prude’s death occurred nearly six months ago, details became public at a press conference organized by his family Wednesday, according to the Rochester Democrat & Chronicle. Body camera footage of the altercation also became available Wednesday, which Rochester Mayor Lovely Warren called “disturbing.” She said, “I can sympathize and empathize with the family.” Joe Prude, the victim’s brother, called the police’s actions “cold-blooded murder” and said officers treated him “like a damned animal.” “I placed a phone call to […]
As a Black queer millennial, I’m often told I’m strong. For my mere existence alone is often said to be an act of resilience. I live in a world where people who look like me are being extrajudicially killed by cops on viral videos. A global pandemic is taking away my skinfolk more rapidly than any other population. And bigotry, H.I.V., gun violence, opioids, and poverty continues to disproportionately cut at the intersections of my Black queer community unforgivingly. Living in Philadelphia, a city that is now second to Chicago in homicides, I have witnessed too many loved ones who have […]
I dare you to examine the 1989 murder of Yusuf Hawkins and tell me America has changed. Yusuf Hawkins was a 16-year-old Black teenager who, along with three friends, went to Bensonhurst, Brooklyn, one summer night to look at a used car his buddy Troy had found for sale in the newspaper. Yusuf didn’t know anyone in Bensonhurst, but he and his friends found themselves surrounded by a mob of 30 young white men swinging baseball bats, wielding handguns, and accusing them of not belonging in their all-white neighborhood. The mostly Italian men forced themselves between Yusuf and his friends, pinned […]
As Kenosha, Wisconsin, braces for a third night of protests against the shooting of Jacob Blake, the 29-year-old’s family on Tuesday decried racial injustice while calling for peace and the “healing of our country.” “My son has been fighting for his life, and we just really need prayers. As I was riding through here, through the city, I noticed a lot of damage. That doesn’t reflect my son or my family,” Julia Jackson, Blake’s mother, said in a Tuesday press conference. “If Jacob knew what was going on, as far as that goes, the violence & destruction, he would be very […]
Since he was in elementary school summiting flagpoles, eating his lunch at the top of basketball hoops, and wriggling his way up the exposed seams of brick buildings, Kai Lightner has been a fearless climber. The 20-year-old professional from Fayetteville, North Carolina, has tackled some of the hardest routes in the world, ascending the formidable Era Vella in Margalef, Spain, when he was just 15. Still there are some spots he won’t go near—not due to any dangerous grade or slope, but because of the name. Across the U.S., Canada, and parts of Mexico, the so-called “First Ascensionists” who create routes […]
More than 100 people were arrested Monday, and at least two were shot, following a night of chaos in Chicago’s upscale Magnificent Mile shopping district and other parts of downtown after crowds smashed windows and looted storefronts in a move that city authorities are calling “pure criminality.” Mayor Lori Lightfoot called the looting an “assault on the city,” and officials have stressed it was not connected to any organized protest, but seemingly spurred after a police-involved shooting in the city’s Englewood section on Sunday afternoon. Hours after the shooting, police responded to reports of widespread vandalism just after midnight on North […]
The former Atlanta police officer who fatally shot Rayshard Brooks during a June arrest after he fell asleep in his car at a Wendy’s drive-thru is suing the mayor and interim police chief over his termination, claiming the decision violated his constitutional rights. Garrett Rolfe, 27, currently faces 11 charges—including felony murder—for shooting Brooks on June 12 as he was running away through the crowded fast-food parking lot. After shooting him twice in the back, Rolfe then kicked the 27-year-old man “while he was lying on the ground,” prosecutors allege. Rolfe was fired the following day after footage of the police […]
Amnesty International’s latest report details that it has logged at least 125 separate cases of police violence against US residents within two weeks of the Memorial Day killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Officers across the nation were accused by Amnesty on Tuesday of violating the human rights of peaceful protesters, bystanders and members of the press 125 times between May 26 and June 5. According to the international human rights organization, these incidents occurred in 40 US states and the US capital of Washington, DC, while demonstrators were mourning the killing of Floyd, whose death has since been declared […]
An Immigration and Customs Enforcement guard at an immigration jail in Virginia knelt dangerously on the upper back of a man already bleeding from his head, two detained men who said they saw the disturbing incident told The Daily Beast. “It was like seeing George Floyd all over again,” said one detainee, whom The Daily Beast will call Glenn. Since the incident on Monday, July 13, the detained men said that they have not seen the beaten man, identified as 31-year old Carlos Rivas Monsano. “Right now, we don’t know where he is,” a second detainee, whom The Daily Beast will […]
On Wednesday, May 27, as day turned into night, the protests over the killing of George Floyd by Minneapolis police officers spread across the city. The streets in front of Du Nord Craft Spirits, America’s first Black-owned distillery, in South Minneapolis were filled with marchers. The company’s founders, Chris Montana (who is Black) and his wife Shanelle (who is white; both are native Minnesotans), kept an eye on the situation. “The later it got in the day,” Shanelle said, “the less protest and the more riot started to happen. We pulled our staff back and told them they could go home. […]
https://cdn1.img.sputniknews.com/img/07e4/07/16/1079953731_252:0:1452:675_1200x675_80_0_0_d3acbf625075f5fac082edadd839d692.jpg Sputnik International https://cdn2.img.sputniknews.com/i/logo.png Sputnik https://cdn2.img.sputniknews.com/i/logo.png https://sputniknews.com/us/202007221079953366-protests-raging-in-portland-oregon-amid-heavy-federal-police-presence-ordered-by-trump—video/ The city has been engulfed by nightly anti-racism protests in the aftermath of the death of African American former convict George Floyd in police custody. Outbursts of violence during the protests prompted President Donald Trump to send federal law enforcement officers to the city to maintain law and order. Sputnik presents footage of Wednesday protests in Portland, Oregon as they continue to sweep across the city despite the deployment of federal law enforcement officers ordered by US President Donald Trump. In the video, demonstrators, amassed in great numbers, are seen chanting slogans, banging on […]
WASHINGTON―The Republican-controlled U.S. Senate rejected a bipartisan measure to block the military from giving offensive surplus equipment to state and local U.S. police departments. The Senate voted 51-49 on the proposed amendment to the 2021 National Defense Authorization Act. The action comes amid civil unrest and a national debate over race and policing in the wake of George Floyd’s death―and amid lobbying from police organizations to maintain the program. The more amendment from Sen. Brian Schatz, D-Hawaii, was to ban transfers of grenade launchers, bayonets, drones, tracked armored vehicles and high-powered firearms and ammunition, but not prohibit defensive equipment, like body […]
The family of George Floyd is suing the city of Minneapolis and the four officers involved in the unarmed 46-year-old’s death, in which his final pleas of “I can’t breathe” became a national rallying cry. The federal lawsuit filed Wednesday in the U.S. District Court for the District of Minnesota alleges that the city and the Minneapolis cops involved in the May 25 death “deprived” Floyd of “his clearly established rights as secured by the Fourth and Fourteen Amendments.” It also alleges the Minneapolis Police Department has a history of providing and permitting “warrior-style” training and that the city allowed a […]
Former NBA star Stephen Jackson on Wednesday doubled down on his defense of DeSean Jackson, calling out critics who are “upset” after he claimed the Philadelphia Eagles wide receiver was “speaking the truth” in several anti-Semitic social-media posts. “In other words, you’re upset with me because I didn’t say what you wanted me to say,” Jackson said Wednesday on Instagram Live, The Athletic first reported. Jackson, who retired from the NBA in 2014 after playing for nine teams, came under fire Tuesday night after he defended the NFL star’s disturbing Instagram posts over the weekend. The posts included a quote falsely […]
The recent release of Minneapolis Police Department body camera transcripts has provided the public with even more insight into the final moments of George Floyd’s life, and a clearer record of the 46-year-old’s pleas to the arresting officers on May 25. Made public on Wednesday, the transcripts detail Floyd’s willingness to cooperate with Minneapolis Police Officers J. Alexander Kueng and Thomas K. Lane, despite his confusion regarding their right to detain him. At the time, Floyd was sitting in a car with Shawanda Renee Hill, and officers were responding to a call of a forgery in progress. “I’m sorry, I’m sorry,” […]
The Minneapolis Police Department, in a training manual issued to all new officers, detailed how to execute the same neck restraint that killed George Floyd, lawyers for one of the officers involved in the May 25 incident argued in a Wednesday motion. The training manual, which provided pictures of the “non-deadly” maneuver in which officers put an arm or leg on the back of a suspect’s throat if they are resisting arrest, was filed Wednesday in a motion to dismiss the charges against Thomas Lane—one of four officers charged in Floyd’s death. The manual included a PowerPoint slide with a photo […]
Fox News host Tucker Carlson continued his relentless attacks on social justice movement Black Lives Matter on Wednesday night, likening the protests over police brutality to coronavirus while describing the city where George Floyd was killed as “our Wuhan.” Carlson led off his top-rated Fox News primetime program by referencing COVID-19, a disease that has currently killed roughly 130,000 Americans, in an effort to draw a comparison to the recent push for racial justice kicked off by Floyd’s late-May death. “We spent an awful lot of time this spring talking about viruses and how they spread,” he proclaimed. “One person infects […]
Thousands of protesters flooded the streets of lower Manhattan on Sunday for the Queer Liberation March for Black Lives and Against Police Brutality, a rallying cry against police violence that combined the spirit of Pride with the ongoing calls of the Black Lives Matter movement. Late afternoon reports on social media showed disturbing moments of confrontation after a largely peaceful march, with the police pushing through crowds of protesters and appearing to detain multiple people. An NYPD spokesperson confirmed to The Daily Beast that two people were arrested in the act of graffiting a police vehicle, and that pepper spray was […]
If you love The Daily Beast’s royal coverage, then we hope you’ll enjoy The Royalist, a members-only series for Beast Inside. Become a member to get it in your inbox every Sunday. Whatever the state of the relationship between Prince Harry and Prince William, two things are most certainly not helping: royal “sources,” and an expanse of miscommunication-facilitating ocean between them. The apparent fraternal conflict is being exacerbated by a wealth of new claims about the circumstances by which Harry and wife Meghan Markle ended up quitting their roles as “senior royals.” Source link
https://cdn1.img.sputniknews.com/img/107970/96/1079709663_0:68:1280:788_1200x675_80_0_0_7de9ac7f2b7d8d8d175846d55897a117.jpg Sputnik International https://cdn2.img.sputniknews.com/i/logo.png Sputnik https://cdn2.img.sputniknews.com/i/logo.png https://sputniknews.com/society/202006241079709694-is-chess-racist-twitter-users-beg-mainstream-media-to-stop-mocking-racism/ A flood of social media comments ensued a debate encouraged by the Australian public broadcaster “about the racial context of whether white should go first.” ABC Sydney was hammered by criticism following a segment aired on Wednesday, where the question of a racial undertone in the game of chess was raised. Australian economist and chess player John Adams, who was asked to participate in the debate, accused the ABC of “broadcasting on irrelevant topics.” the rules of chess need to be altered! Trust the taxpayer funded national broadcaster to apply ideological Marxist frameworks to […]
The image of a white police officer, Derek Chauvin, kneeling on the neck of a Black man, George Floyd, for 8 minutes and 46 seconds has been etched into the American consciousness. But for many Asian-Americans like myself, there’s another lingering image from that fatal encounter—the face of the Asian officer who stood by and did nothing as Floyd was violently choked to death. That officer is 34-year-old Tou Thao. He is Hmong American, a Southeast Asian ethnic community largely present in the Midwest and California. Hmong people make up a large percentage of the immigrant population in the Twin Cities […]
If you love The Daily Beast’s royal coverage, then we hope you’ll enjoy The Royalist, a members-only series for Beast Inside. Become a member to get it in your inbox every Sunday. Prince William’s 38th birthday today has been happy and also a tad dramatic, with reports claiming royal aides fear a new book about Prince Harry and Meghan Markle will see William “painted as the bad guy” in the tumult over their exit from the royal family. William’s birthday coincided with Father’s Day, the twinned events marked by new pictures taken by Kate Middleton showing William enjoying playtime with his three […]
WARNING: The video below contains graphic content. Two years before George Floyd pleaded with a Minneapolis police officer to remove his knee from his neck, Timothy Coffman screamed out for help while he was pinned face down on the ground in Florida—his ankles tied while officers used the same move to restrain him. Coffman, a 36-year-old who struggled with mental illness, was beaten with a baton and tased several times before two South Daytona officers pressed their knees into his back and neck for more than four minutes on June 28, 2018, according to a lawsuit filed Thursday in the Middle District […]
Cities across the world have erupted in protest against police violence and anti-Black racism, but who are they marching for? In the wake of the killings of George Floyd and Ahmaud Arbery, global communities have participated in themed protests to honor their lives. From #IRunWithMaud to celebrity-led comedy specials, there’s no shortage of coverage of their deaths. But since these protests picked up steam, I’ve noticed a quieter trend on my timelines: sprinkles of posts reminding authorities to arrest the cops who killed Breonna Taylor, like accent colors in a monochromatic room. Source link
A Minneapolis police dispatcher was so alarmed by real-time footage of George Floyd’s violent arrest that she flagged the situation to her supervisor, telling him over the phone, “I don’t know you can call me a snitch if you want.” “I don’t know if they had to use force or not, but they got something out of the back of the squad, and all of them sat on this man,” the unidentified 911 dispatcher said in a recording of the call released Monday by the city of Minneapolis. The dispatcher, who has not been identified, watched Floyd’s death as it was […]
Between the novel coronavirus pandemic and, now, the protests that have erupted demanding justice for Black people murdered by police, it’s a pretty awkward time to have a movie coming out. Jon Stewart, who will debut his new film Irresistible on demand June 26, knows this well. “It’s like showing up to a plane crash with a chocolate bar,” the comedian told The New York Times in an interview published Monday. “There’s tragedy everywhere, and you’re like, ‘Uh, does anybody want chocolate?’ It feels ridiculous.” “But what doesn’t feel ridiculous,” Stewart added, “is to continue to fight for nuance and precision […]
It happened in Atlanta. In San Francisco. In D.C. and in Charlotte. Over and over again in recent weeks, black female mayors have stepped onto the national stage—and been forced to publicly face their contradictory roles. Not only are these women in positions of power and obligated to uphold the law, but they also find themselves promoting racial justice in a movement that does not always fight for black women. “I’m in charge of this city,” San Francisco Mayor London Breed told The Daily Beast, but “I’m still a black woman who is sadly still being treated in a disrespectful way, […]
On Sunday night, John Oliver took some more shots at his new favorite target: Tucker Carlson, the white nationalist-adjacent Fox News anchor, former bow tie enthusiast, and heir to the Swanson TV dinner fortune. Two weeks ago, when Carlson claimed that the protests in Minneapolis were worse than “police brutality,” Oliver said, “OK, first: Fuck you, Tucker… people like Tucker love to venerate order at moments like this, and that’s easy to do when order in its current form is designed to benefit and protect you.” Carlson’s George Floyd protest rant (and all the dog-whistle-filled rants in its wake) cost the […]
Joe Biden has spent part of June watching a parade of distinguished retired generals and admirals denounce President Trump’s desires to militarize his crackdown on protests against institutional racism. The criticisms have overjoyed some Biden allies, who see their strong rebuke working in the presumptive Democratic nominee’s favor. Indeed, there’s a growing belief among some Democrats that the disillusioned military brass’s critique of the president will present yet another handy contrast with Biden. Some close to Biden believe that their criticisms amount to unstated endorsements in a two-candidate race, and argue the campaign would be wise to highlight them formally. But […]
On the same day President Trump is scheduled to give his acceptance speech for the Republican nomination at the big arena in Jacksonville, Florida, another group will meet in a nearby park where Klansmen in Confederate uniforms handed out ax handles for a racist rampage exactly 60 years before. The permit for the Aug. 27 gathering at Hemming Park was secured by one of that murderous white mob’s targets on what became known as Ax Handle Saturday. Rodney Hurst was the 16-year-old president of the youth council of the NAACP back in 1960. He will be joined this year as in […]
Thousands of theater professionals assembled this week for #BwayforBLM, a three-part online forum that was raw, emotionally charged, and bracingly frank about the systemic problems plaguing the medium’s white-dominated spaces and institutions. The forum took place amid a global uprising over the death of Black Americans at the hands of police, and a reckoning with anti-Black racism across a growing number of industries—including media, retail, and tech. The event closed out a week that also saw the circulation of an open letter, “We See You, White American Theater,” decrying racist structures and practices across the profession nationally, signed by more than […]
Dave Chappelle released an unannounced Netflix special in the early hours of Friday that tears into the media and calls on America to listen to the protest movement that has risen up to demand an end to more than a century of oppression. The comedian said he couldn’t bring himself to watch the killing of George Floyd for a week, but as soon as he did, he understood why the U.S was witnessing one of the most widespread protest movements in 50 years. “This kid thought he was going to die, he knew he was going to die. He called for […]
There are few actors as accomplished, or as effortlessly cool, as Delroy Lindo, who for more than three decades has brought a commanding intensity, sharp humor and easygoing magnetism to a wide variety of film, TV and stage roles. That charisma is once again on grand display in Da 5 Bloods, Spike Lee’s Vietnam War film about four vets—played by Lindo, Clarke Peters, Isiah Whitlock Jr. and Norm Lewis—who return to their former battleground to recover both the remains of their dearly departed comrade Stormin’ Norman (Chadwick Boseman) and the millions in gold bars that they buried decades earlier. With its […]
Jessica Mulroney, the Canadian stylist, Good Morning America correspondent, and close friend of Meghan Markle, has been fired from her Canadian TV gig after black influencer Sasha Exeter dubbed her an “Amy Cooper.” Equating Mulroney to the white woman who called the cops on a birdwatcher in Central Park last month, Exeter took to Instagram to tell a story of alleged online bullying at the hands of Mulroney. “Today, I’m opening up about something that has been haunting me for the last week,” Exeter wrote to her 74,000 followers. “I have felt like a complete fraud fighting for racial equality and […]
As nationwide protests in honor of black victims of police brutality have become accompanied by calls to defund and restructure the police, Harvard professor and researcher Caroline Light tells Sputnik that it’s also important for the US to examine the relationship between its own unethical history and how it justifies violence. “We already have this massive architecture of armed citizenship, which is based so much on implicit biases that disproportionately assume criminality when they see a black or brown face,” Light, who specializes in gender, critical race and ethnic studies, noted to Political Misfits hosts Bob Schlehuber and Jamarl Thomas on […]
The two-night special OWN Spotlight: Where Do We Go From Here? that was hosted by Oprah Winfrey Tuesday and Wednesday night was remarkable. It aired across 19 different Discovery-owned networks simultaneously in primetime, which means on outlets like OWN, HGTV, Food Network, Animal Planet, and the Travel Channel—in other words the channels that program content that people typically flock to in order to escape the harsh realities of the news and the world. But, even if only for an hour, it was significant that programmers rallied and said, “No cooking competition, no home makeover specials. Tonight we’re going to confront and […]
Congress’ first hearing about police brutality in the wake of George Floyd’s murder was marked by raw and emotional testimony from his brother and some well-meaning words from members of both parties about working together to reform law enforcement in the U.S. “The people elected you to speak for them, to make positive change. George’s name means something. You have the opportunity here to make your names mean something, too,” said Floyd’s brother, Philonise, in his opening remarks. Later, weeping, he said “Justice has to be served. Those officers, they have to be convicted… His life mattered. All our lives matter. […]
On Tuesday night, Trevor Noah addressed the Democrats’ kente cloth fiasco as only he could. “While the movement in the streets has been building up steam, Democrats in Washington have been scrambling for a way to respond. And yesterday, I think they’ve figured it out,” offered Noah. The Daily Show host then threw to footage of the Senate Democrats kneeling in the Capitol’s Emancipation Hall for 8 minutes and 46 seconds in honor of George Floyd—while inexplicably donning African kente cloths, even though Floyd is an American. The move was widely ridiculed on social media, with The Roots’ Questlove pointing to […]
Norwegian Princess Märtha Louise claimed that she has been given a “crash course” in how “white supremacy” works by her black lover who is a self-proclaimed shaman and a healer. In conjunction with the violent Black Lives Matter demonstrations in the US and Europe, sparked by the death of African American George Floyd at the hands of US police, the phenomenon of whites taking a knee has started to kick off. In Norway, this trend received a royal touch as Princess Märtha Louise posted a photograph of herself and her three teenage daughters kneeling on her Instagram account. The 48-year-old princess […]
Did Fox News’ Sean Hannity just compare President Donald Trump dealing with the FBI’s Russia investigation to George Floyd’s death at the hands of the police? Yes. Yes, he did. During Tuesday night’s broadcast of his primetime Fox News program, the pro-Trump star railed against the growing criticism of the police amid the protests over Floyd’s death. After playing video of the New York police union head claiming lawmakers and the press are treating cops “like animals and thugs,” Hannity said he agreed with the sentiment. “They deserve better,” he exclaimed. “The vast majority of our police serve with honor and […]
“What matters now? What matters next? What do we want? What are our demands? Where do we go from here?” These questions from Oprah Winfrey introduced OWN Spotlight: Where Do We Go From Here?, the unprecedented two-night town hall event that premiered Tuesday on OWN and across Discovery’s 18 other U.S. networks. Airing the same night as the funeral for George Floyd, the Minneapolis black man whose death at the hands of a white police officer has sparked global protests, part one launched Winfrey’s conversation with black thought leaders and activists including director Ava DuVernay and Georgia Democrat Stacey Abrams. Together, […]
Godofredo A Vasquez/Getty “Let all the ends thou aimst at be thy Country’s, thy God’s, and Truth’s. Be noble and the nobleness that lies in other men, sleeping but never dead, will rise in majesty to meet thine own.” —Inscription at Union Station, Washington, D.C. circa 1908 I remember first reading those words as a young congressional intern when I came to Washington, D.C. for the first time as a sophomore in high school. I have always held them close to my heart because they affirm that one man or woman can make a difference and in so doing, inspire others to […]
Fifteen days after he cried out for his mother as he couldn’t breathe, George Floyd was laid to rest alongside her in Houston on Tuesday. Floyd’s gold casket was taken to the cemetery from a church on the southwest side of the city, where the last of three memorial services was held for Floyd, 46, who died after a white Minneapolis police officer knelt on his neck for almost nine minutes. “My mom, if she was here today, I honestly can say this, that she would be on that casket right now trying to get in there with him,” one of […]
A police chief in Washington State was replaced on Monday after spreading a conspiracy theory that antifa activists were planning to destroy the community, the latest in a slew of law enforcement officials disciplined or ousted for their conduct during nation-wide protests against the killing of George Floyd. Keith Rogers, now the former Snohomish Police Chief, referred to a May 31 demonstration, in which armed residents turned out to protect the city from supposed leftist looters, as a “festive” night of tailgating. He was reassigned amid public calls for his resignation. A spokesperson for the Snohomish County Sheriff’s Office confirmed to […]
In the painting “Justice” (1762) by Mathias Blumenthal that hangs in Bergen’s City Hall a white woman is treading on a prostrate, dark-skinned man. While the painting was meant to symbolise the battle of light and darkness, the Greens believe its symbolism no longer fits with today’s situation. In the wake of Black Lives Matter protests, calls have erupted to remove a 258-year-old painting from the City Hall of Bergen, Norway’s second most populous city. In the painting “Justice” (1762) by Mathias Blumenthal, which has been hanging in Bergen’s City Hall since 1972, a white woman is treading on a prostrate, […]
It’s been 10 days since Trevor Noah delivered a sobering 18-minute monologue on the police killing of George Floyd that quickly racked up tens of millions of views across various social platforms and helped change the conversation about the “social contract” between black people and cops. After taking last week off, he was back hosting The Daily Show from home Monday night and the story has only become bigger. “Never before in American history has there been an uprising like this, exactly like this, where you have huge numbers of people coming out every single day, in every single state in […]
https://cdn1.img.sputniknews.com/img/107831/61/1078316138_0:285:3072:2013_1200x675_80_0_0_d5cfef07f25a7c04f51805ae7cfdf298.jpg Sputnik International https://cdn2.img.sputniknews.com/i/logo.png Sputnik https://cdn2.img.sputniknews.com/i/logo.png https://sputniknews.com/us/202006081079560373-us-attorney-general-barr-says-he-supports-ban-of-chokeholds-used-by-police/ WASHINGTON (Sputnik) – US Attorney General William Barr said he supports a nationwide ban on the use of chokeholds by law enforcement in the United States. “I think we should ban chokeholds”, Barr said in a Fox News interview on Monday. “I think we’re going to need a strong federal participation in this effort in helping to set standards”. At the same time, Barr said it would be wrong and dangerous to defund and dismantle US police departments, as it has been recently proposed in some jurisdictions. “Demonising police” is wrong and dangerous”, Barr said. “We […]
US 00:56 GMT 09.06.2020Get short URL 0 01 Subscribe https://cdn1.img.sputniknews.com/img/107956/06/1079560669_0:28:3072:1756_1200x675_80_0_0_18483c970734683a7796000f858f57df.jpg Sputnik International https://cdn2.img.sputniknews.com/i/logo.png Sputnik https://cdn2.img.sputniknews.com/i/logo.png https://sputniknews.com/us/202006091079560636-we-got-your-back-florida-police-union-invites-fired-disciplined-cops-to-join-force-/ A Florida chapter of the Fraternal Order of Police (FOP) has now issued a public apology following backlash from a recent social media post inviting recently-fired officers and cops who have engaged in questionable conduct to join a police force in Florida, where fellow cops would defend them to a greater degree. Brevard County FOP President Bert Gamin expressed on Monday that he deeply regrets a recent social media post authored by him and posted to the chapter’s Facebook page. The post in question was […]
While the destruction of property and crime have been attributed to non-peaceful protesters and rioters across the US, damning footage from Minneapolis, Minnesota, shows uniformed officers slashing the tires of cars in an apparent reprimand or immobilize their operators. Source link
US 00:26 GMT 09.06.2020Get short URL https://cdn1.img.sputniknews.com/img/107446/81/1074468131_0:246:2048:1398_1200x675_80_0_0_d770ae31c62942f6bb595219003f6d2d.jpg Sputnik International https://cdn2.img.sputniknews.com/i/logo.png Sputnik https://cdn2.img.sputniknews.com/i/logo.png https://sputniknews.com/us/202006091079560526-protesters-deface-trumps-hollywood-walk-of-fame-star-again/ Over the weekend, US President Donald Trump’s Hollywood Walk of Fame star was vandalized with a Black Lives Matter message amid ongoing protests against police violence and injustice sparked by the gruesome killing of George Floyd. Black Lives Matter protests have drawn massive crowds both in the US and abroad, with demonstrations being held in all 50 US states for the second week in a row. Amid the hoards of protestors, Trump’s star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame was not spared, being defaced beyond recognition for what […]
HOUSTON—Denise Douglas and her daughter Brittany arrived at a strip mall in southeast Houston around 8:30 a.m. on Monday, more than three hours before the first bus would arrive to shuttle them to the church where the body of George Floyd was on view. They held bouquets donated by Mayesh Wholesale Florist and fanned themselves with paper fans that read “Stop Racism Now.” “We all have the same problem,” said Denise, a 57-year-old African-American nurse, referring to people in line to pay Floyd their final respects at a public viewing in the city where he grew up. “The problem is people […]
The fired Minneapolis police officer who held his knee on George Floyd’s neck while he repeatedly said he couldn’t breathe made his first court appearance on Monday, where a judge slapped him with a maximum bail of $1.25 million. Derek Chauvin, 44, has been hit with second-degree murder charges for the May 25 death of Floyd, along with third-degree murder and second-degree manslaughter charges that allege he caused Floyd’s death through “culpable negligence,” including using a restraint that police are taught is “inherently dangerous.” During the 11-minute hearing in Hennepin County District Court on Monday, Judge Denise Reilly set bail at $1.25 million, […]
On Sunday night, after one of the more chaotic weeks in recent memory, John Oliver returned to the stripped-down set of Last Week Tonight to recap the madness. “All week long, protesters have continued to fill the streets in all fifty states in the wake of the horrific murder of George Floyd by the police,” he said. “And in response to those protests, which have been a stirring pushback against institutional racism and brutality, it’s been frankly sickening to see them met with this.” The comedian then aired a montage of police using military-style tactics on protesters—drowning them in tear gas, […]
While tens of thousands around the world marched for justice and equality on Saturday, author J.K. Rowling decided to tweet about the phrase, “people who menstruate.” Her tweet, however, backfired bigger than the Avada Kedavra spell in her Harry Potter novels. Then, in the face of a swift backlash, the novelist doubled-down: she claimed to be both a supporter of transgender rights and a victim of hate. And she gave the most clear indication yet that she stands with feminists who will not accept trans women are women and trans men are men. Rowling apparently never read Zoyander Street’s 2016 essay […]
If you love The Daily Beast’s royal coverage, then we hope you’ll enjoy The Royalist, a members-only series for Beast Inside. Become a member to get it in your inbox every Sunday. Prince Charles “terribly sad” Former coronavirus patient Prince Charles finds it “terribly sad” to be disconnected from family and friends because of the pandemic lockdown. Charles told Sky News, “I haven’t seen my father (Prince Philip) for a long time. He’s going to be 99 next week, so yes, or my grandchildren or anything.” Source link
Despite police crackdowns, curfews, boiling heat, rain, and fears of a global pandemic that continues to plague America, huge crowds of protesters swelled to their largest size yet on Saturday in some of the country’s biggest cities. On the eleventh day of protests—sparked by the killing of George Floyd at the hands of Minneapolis police—thousands of demonstrators descended on Union Park in Chicago, downtown Philadelphia, Brooklyn, and Washington, D.C. to protest police violence against black people. It provided a jarring contrast to footage of hundreds of police officers cheering outside a Buffalo, NY, courthouse on Saturday, in support of two colleagues […]
Despite the Muslim and African-American communities both being minority groups, and the fact that nearly one third of the Muslim American community is black, there’s been a history of tension or mistrust between many in the two groups. And George Floyd’s tragic murder and the reaction that followed both conjure up the past challenges for these two communities—and offer an inspiring sign of hope for the future. One of the primary areas of friction arises from the fact that some Muslims own delis or even liquor stores in urban neighborhoods where they gladly accept the money of black customers but show […]
Two Buffalo cops were arraigned on Saturday on one count each of assault in the second degree, after they allegedly shoved a 75-year-old demonstrator during anti-police brutality protests. Martin Gugino, a longtime peace activist in the upstate New York city, hit his head on the pavement and was left on the ground as blood pooled around his head on Thursday evening. He remained in hospital in a serious but stable condition on Saturday. Initially, city officials claimed Gugino had tripped and fell. However, a video then surfaced showing riot police, who were clearing Niagara Square at the time, clearly pushed Gugino […]
It sounds a full-time job, and then some. “Pretty much all my time is dedicated to this,” one of the reporters behind the NYC Protest Updates 2020 (@protest_nyc) Twitter account told The Daily Beast. “I wake up and open my laptop. If I’m on the streets that day, I eat and then fall asleep as soon as I get home. If I’m not, I’m on the scanner, doing research or organizing logistics pretty much all day.” Since its creation last week, over 11,000 people have followed NYC Protest Updates for fast, on-the-ground reporting conducted by self-described “young, independent journalists.” These reporters, […]
Nearly two weeks into protests against the killing of an unarmed black man in Minneapolis police custody, a slew of different cities across the country have been forced to confront the brutal methods used by their own police officers as videos emerged of harrowing incident after harrowing incident. And on Friday, it seemed a reckoning of sorts was in the air: Police officers in multiple cities were suspended, hit with charges, or stripped of their powers after they were caught on camera treating peaceful protesters like combatants. In New York City, where earlier this week authorities had praised the police department’s […]
Right Richter See what’s happening with the extreme right wing from the safety of your inbox. This week: Surveying the George Floyd hoaxes. The Secret Service grapples with QAnon. How to convince anti-mask Trump supporters to buy $20 masks. George Floyd Hoaxes As the protests over George Floyd’s death increase, so too has the amount of internet nonsense on the right about Floyd’s death. Below are some of the biggest conspiracy theories that are attracting some of the most craven conspiracy-mongers. Source link
India 08:40 GMT 05.06.2020Get short URL https://cdn1.img.sputniknews.com/img/107952/56/1079525625_0:0:3202:1803_1200x675_80_0_0_4c7ac87eeb322f9a75200ced9bc0724f.jpg Sputnik International https://cdn2.img.sputniknews.com/i/logo.png Sputnik https://cdn2.img.sputniknews.com/i/logo.png https://sputniknews.com/india/202006051079525233-famous-indian-writer-booked-for-inciting-minority-communities-to-organise-us-style-protests-/ New Delhi (Sputnik): Overthe past week, several Indian actors and social activists expressed their solidarity with the #BlackLivesMatter movement on social media. Support for the movement has also invited protests like those in the US, to draw attention to the alleged mistreatment of minorities in India. Bengaluru police have booked an Indian writer, journalist and former Amnesty International official Aakar Patel, for allegedly provoking people from minority communities to launch a nationwide protest in a post on Twitter. Patel had retweeted video clips of protests posted by The […]
One by one this week, New York Times staffers started tweeting “Running this puts Black @NYTimes staff in danger” along with the screenshot of an op-ed by Senator Tom Cotton (R-AR) titled “Send in the Troops.” On Thursday night, Seth Meyers entered the fray. As the Trump administration “defends violent crackdowns on peaceful protesters,” the Late Night host called out the Republican Party as a whole and Sen. Cotton in particular for “openly embracing calls for military violence towards American citizens.” Meyers highlighted this line from the “chilling” op-ed: “One thing above all else will restore order to our streets: an […]
At the end of a day in which Senator Cory Booker (D-NJ) was forced to excoriate his colleague Rand Paul (R-KY) for blocking an anti-lynching bill, he spoke frankly and emotionally about his own experience with racism and the police on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert. Booker began by saying he almost feels “embarrassed” that he wasn’t with the protesters in Lafayette Park this week to “confront what has been, in my opinion, in my lifetime, one of the greatest affronts of our most sacred principles and ideals.” For President Trump to speak “from one side of his mouth” about […]
US 20:33 GMT 04.06.2020Get short URL https://cdn1.img.sputniknews.com/img/107952/17/1079521785_0:132:3406:2048_1200x675_80_0_0_a60de6ec64b833f0d7f3277477e92fe8.jpg Sputnik International https://cdn2.img.sputniknews.com/i/logo.png Sputnik https://cdn2.img.sputniknews.com/i/logo.png https://sputniknews.com/us/202006041079521837-did-mxico-pay-for-it-netizens-scoff-as-white-house-erects-fencing-concrete-barriers—video/ The federal government’s decision to fortify the White House and the Eisenhower Executive Office Building (EEOB) has drawn criticism from netizens and Washington, DC, Mayor Muriel Bowser. Tall, metal fencing, along with concrete barriers, appeared along 17th Street in the US capital and around the White House and EEOB on Thursday. In addition to the new fencing, which now extends past the EEOB down 17th Street, @abdallahCNN reports that additional concrete barriers have been installed behind existing fencing at 17th and Pennsylvania Ave. NW pic.twitter.com/aoULVLNFF8 — Betsy Klein […]
Meghan Markle has spoken out about the death of George Floyd, the Black Lives Matter movement and the unrest rocking the country in a video address to the graduating class of her old school, the Immaculate Heart High School, during a virtual commencement speech on Wednesday evening. Meghan said at the beginning of her speech: “I wasn’t sure what I could say to you. I wanted to say the right thing and I was really nervous that it would get picked apart. And I realized the only wrong thing to say is to say nothing because George Floyd’s life mattered and […]
Anti-racist protests in support of the Black Lives Matter movement were held simultaneously in two Nordic capitals yielded dramatically different outcomes. While the demonstration in Helsinki wrapped up peacefully, Stockholm police had to use teargas. Thousands of protestors gathered at Helsinki’s Senate Square on Wednesday evening to demonstrate against racism and police brutality against blacks, inspired by the protests over the death of African-American George Floyd that have gripped the US. The protests gathered people of all ages and backgrounds, including speakers from local activist groups, academics, entrepreneurs, and artists. At the start of the protest, those present were invited to […]
Wednesday morning, a Change.org petition circled the internet calling to “Have TikTok remove any content involving the ‘George Floyd challenge!!’” The page featured a disturbing layout collage, cropped to reveal only the bottom two photos. In each, two white guys mugged for the camera, as one knelt on the other’s neck—both mocking the murder of George Floyd, who died after a Minneapolis cop knelt on his windpipe for eight minutes and 46 seconds. By that evening, the petition passed its goal of 5,000 signatures. The new goal is now 7,500. “There is a challenge currently ‘popular’ on the app TikTok,” the […]
As President Trump continues to try and drum up support for his call for states to “dominate” protesters and beef up police presence against them, Attorney General Bill Barr and a team of senior Justice Department officials have quietly taken the lead on disrupting the protests and going after the petty criminals who may be using the demonstrations as cover. It’s been a controversial move, even within Barr’s own department. One federal prosecutor called Barr’s most high-profile effort to quell the unrest “politically-charged [and] bogus.” A senior law enforcement official called it “a political ploy to make being anti-Trump look like […]
On Wednesday morning, New York Police Department Commissioner Dermot F. Shea tweeted a low-resolution video of an unidentified officer picking up blue plastic crates on a city street corner. The crates, which appeared to be filled with chunks of masonry, had apparently been left next to a garbage can near Avenue X and West 3rd Street in Gravesend, a neighborhood by the water on Brooklyn’s south end that’s been largely untouched by the protests elsewhere in the borough and the city. “This is what our cops are up against: Organized looters, strategically placing caches of bricks & rocks at locations throughout […]
Air Force Gen. Charles Q. Brown’s nomination had been held up over a KC-46 basing decision. Source link
US 23:08 GMT 02.06.2020(updated 23:36 GMT 02.06.2020) Get short URL Georgia’s Fulton County District Attorney’s Office has charged six current and former officers of the Atlanta Police Department (APD) with a litany of charges following their escalation of a traffic stop that has been denounced by the city and the police chief. Fulton County District Attorney Paul L. Howard Jr. held a news conference on Tuesday, announcing charges against Ivory Streeter, Mark Garnder, Lonnie Hood, Willie Sauls, Armond Jones and Roland Claud in connection to the Saturday arrests of 22-year-old Messiah Young and 20-year-old Taniyah Pilgrim. Their arrest warrants were issued […]
Twenty minutes after leaving his job at a Brooklyn hospital on Saturday night, 32-year-old Rayne Valentine was lying in the fetal position on the sidewalk. He’d been beaten and kicked by New York police officers, his hospital ID smeared with his own blood, he told The Daily Beast. Valentine, a Marine veteran who worked as a chef before the pandemic hit the restaurant industry, got a job in March at Kings County Hospital Center. He has spent the past several months moving medicine and patients around the facility, as well as piling hundreds of dead bodies—many of them COVID-19 victims—into refrigerated […]
New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo openly hypothesized on Tuesday about overthrowing NYC Mayor Bill de Blasio after rampant looting and destruction swept across Manhattan on Monday night, overwhelming the NYPD and leaving the city looking like a war zone. “I’m disappointed and outraged by what happened in New York City last night. That criminal activity hurt everyone,” he said. De Blasio had doubled NYPD officers out on the streets to 8,000 on Monday night and imposed an 11 p.m. curfew after three nights of protests against police brutality were overshadowed by violence. But it was not enough to stop rampant looters […]
It’s ridiculous writing about celebrities right now. It’s ridiculous being a celebrity right now. The nation is alight with people demanding justice, dignity, equality, and life for black people in our country. The attention, for once, is not on the rich and famous. Nor should it be. But the fact remains that these are people with platforms, whether they deserve them or not and whether we want them to have them or not. For once, they seem to be using those platforms correctly. It’s always complicated when it comes to these things. And the praise isn’t uniform. CNN anchor Don Lemon […]
NBC Jimmy Fallon returned to The Tonight Show on Monday to two crises, one personal and one national. Promising a “different kind of show,” the host told viewers he would “start personally and then expand out” because “that’s where we all need to start with ourselves.” “I had to really examine myself in the mirror this week because a story came out about me on SNL doing an impression of Chris Rock in blackface,” he said of the two-decade-old sketch that resurfaced on Twitter. “And I was horrified. Not of people trying to ‘cancel’ me or cancel this show, which is […]
“Well, we’re back after 10 days off,” Stephen Colbert said at the top of his Late Show monologue Monday night. “And I never imagined that after 10 days, a global pandemic would not be the lead story. Remember when we were all afraid of our groceries? I miss those days. No, the story that has pushed 100,000 Covid deaths below the fold is America’s preexisting condition: racism.” The host attempted some jokes about the mass protests that have followed the police killing of George Floyd, but it was harder than usual for him to break through the seriousness of the moment. […]
A doubled police force and threats from President Trump on Monday did little to stop protests over the death of George Floyd in New York City, where demonstrators covered more than 30 city blocks and some started looting storefronts along iconic Fifth Avenue. Hundreds of people were arrested in protests from Brooklyn to Manhattan over the weekend, after the release of a shocking video showing a Minneapolis police officer pinning Floyd, an unarmed black man, to the ground by his neck. On Monday, Gov. Andrew Cuomo announced an 11 p.m. curfew and increased the number of police on the ground from […]
US 01:35 GMT 02.06.2020Get short URL Earlier on Sunday, the US National Guard was put on heightened alert in 15 states and in Washington DC, as several of the protests sparked by the murder of George Floyd evolved into violent rioting with buildings and cars set on fire, windows smashed and violent police confrontations with protesters gathered in front of the White House. Polk County Sheriff Grady Judd encouraged residents of the Florida community to use guns in the event of violent looting and people trying to break into their homes. During a press briefing on Monday, he outlined that “the […]
George Floyd, the 46-year-old unarmed black man filmed repeatedly saying he couldn’t breathe while a white Minneapolis police officer pinned his neck to the ground with his knee—died from asphyxia caused by pressure to his back and neck, according to an independent autopsy. The independent autopsy performed by celebrity pathologist Dr. Michael Baden and Dr. Alllecia Wilson found that Floyd died of “asphyxia due to neck and back compression that led to lack of blood flow to the brain,” according to a statement released by civil rights lawyer Ben Crump, who is representing the Floyd family. “What we found is consistent […]
Protests erupted across the country this weekend to demand justice for George Floyd, who died after a white police officer knelt on his neck for several minutes. As thousands of protesters flooded the streets, several celebrities have also participated and used their platforms to elevate and support them, including by contributing to bail funds to secure arrested demonstrators’ release. And Jay-Z apparently took things a step further, calling Minnesota Governor Tim Walz on Sunday. “It was so incredibly human,” Walz told CBS Minnesota of the conversation. “It wasn’t Jay-Z international celebrity, it was a dad and quite honestly a black man […]
America’s heartbreak brought considerable joy to Vladimir Putin’s Russia, but the gloating also exposes the deep ugliness of his regime. Russian reporters covering protests on American soil appear to sympathize with the protesters, but state media reports for domestic audiences tell an entirely different story. “Mockery of the ongoing protests in the United States made references to ‘muscular criminal Negroes,’ described ‘twerking’ as the ‘national Negro dance.’” War correspondent Dmitry Steshin authored a despicably racist article for the Russian tabloid Komsomolskaya Pravda, purporting to give advice to the American protesters. His mockery of the ongoing protests in the United States made […]
On Sunday night, John Oliver kicked off his Last Week Tonight monologue by addressing the protests that have spread across the nation in response to the captured-on-video killing of George Floyd, who begged and pleaded for his life as then-Minneapolis cop Derek Chauvin grinded his knee into his neck for nine excruciating minutes. “Look, it’s been a truly brutal week with protests across the country in response to the horrific killing of George Floyd at the hands of the Minneapolis Police, and there is clearly a lot to discuss here: How these protests are a response to a legacy of police […]
It’s not a real organization, “ANTIFA.” And even if it were, there is no such thing as a domestic federal terror designation. But President Donald Trump’s tweet that the U.S. “will be designating ANTIFA as a Terrorist Organization” is a very real threat. Trump’s Sunday offering came as federal and local authorities across the country scrambled to contain increasingly violent protests in the wake of George Floyd’s death at the hands of police in Minneapolis. Trump, who over several years has launched numerous tirades against anti-fascists, blamed the movement—really, a set of organizing tactics—for vandalism at the protests. Although he has […]
Fiery protests over the death of George Floyd entered a sixth straight day across America, with stretches of Philadelphia turned into a war zone Sunday afternoon, with riots and looting met with tear gas and rubber bullets, and a Los Angeles police SUV reportedly slamming into a demonstrator before speeding off. The alleged hit-and-run in Pershing Square downtown was captured on video shared by Twitter users on Sunday afternoon. Demonstrators chased the police vehicle after it hit a man, whose injuries are unclear, and spun around. As hundreds gathered for peaceful protests, others looted businesses in Santa Monica. One activist tried […]
The word “unprecedented” has been used ad nauseam in recent months, but when public health authorities tried on Sunday to predict the potentially catastrophic effect of nationwide police brutality protests amid a deadly pandemic, it seemed hard to find a suitable alternative. After months of diligent social distancing to curb COVID-19 transmission, Americans in major cities all over the country took to the streets in huge crowds this week to protest the death of George Floyd—and decades of other black deaths at the hands of police officers—after the 46-year-old was killed by a white Minneapolis police officer who shoved a knee […]
UK 13:25 GMT 31.05.2020(updated 13:35 GMT 31.05.2020) Get short URL Brits have been circulating protest posters on social media, announcing demonstrations for the coming week, as US states have increasingly been taking top security measures to ease social unrest in the wake of an unarmed black man’s killing in Minneapolis. Hundreds of demonstrators have broken lockdown rules in Britain gathering in London’s Trafalgar Square in support of US protesters in their rage against the killing of a black man by a Minneapolis police officer last Monday. In footage posted online, several hundred people can be seen standing outside the National Gallery […]
Society 07:12 GMT 31.05.2020(updated 07:16 GMT 31.05.2020) Get short URL In their message at the height of the riots against George Floyd’s death, the hacktivists emphasised there is no way anyone would put up with the atrocities committed at the hands of the police, claiming the Minneapolis Police Department is notorious for its violent methods. Social media users assume the Minneapolis Police Department’s website has been taken down by the group Anonymous, which two days earlier pledged to hold the city’s police accountable for the death of African American man George Floyd. Floyd died after being detained by a number of […]
MINNEAPOLIS—A night after Minneapolis burned, protests on Saturday were mostly calm—until cops and the National Guard moved in with force against those breaking curfew. The protests in Minneapolis, where 46-year-old George Floyd died after a white cop knelt on his neck for several minutes, began peacefully on Saturday as hundreds of residents marched alongside police officers. But just after the 8:00 p.m. curfew passed and all major highways into the Twin Cities were shut down, police appeared in full gear. They began to fling tear gas, flashbangs, and rubber bullets at protesters and journalists alike—pushing crowds away from police precincts that […]
US 00:41 GMT 31.05.2020Get short URL https://cdn1.img.sputniknews.com/img/107946/82/1079468263_0:112:3072:1840_1200x675_80_0_0_b3651261d01a42441d4729f92236db77.jpg Sputnik International https://cdn2.img.sputniknews.com/i/logo.png Sputnik https://cdn2.img.sputniknews.com/i/logo.png https://sputniknews.com/us/202005311079468343-protests-in-minneapolis-continue-amid-national-day-of-action-against-police-aggression—video/ The demonstration was called by the National Alliance against Racist and Political Repression which is also campaigning for prisoners in detentions centres to be released amid the coronavirus pandemic. Sputnik goes live from Minneapolis, where protests against police brutality continue following the death of George Floyd, who died on 25 May during arrest. The National Alliance against Racism and Political Repression (NARPR) has called for a national day of action against police aggression to be held on Saturday. The organisation is also urging authorities to release prisoners from […]
PHILADELPHIA—After hours of peaceful protests in Philadelphia, the City of Brotherly Love descended into chaos on Saturday afternoon as protesters set fire to several police cars and a Starbucks, while others tried to storm City Hall. An iconic statue of the city’s alternately beloved and notorious former mayor and police commissioner, Frank Rizzo, was combed with graffiti by the evening—though dozens of cops arrived, apparently to protect it from destruction. It was one of a dozen new demonstrations to emerge across the country on Saturday—mere hours after 30 cities were hit with mayhem that prompted officials to call in historic levels […]
The brother of George Floyd said Saturday that he spoke to President Donald Trump but the conversation was so quick that he “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 are talking about,”’ Philonise Floyd told MSNBC’s Al Sharpton. “I just told him I want justice. I said that I can’t believe that they committed a modern-day lynching in broad daylight.” Floyd said he also spoke to Joe Biden and poured out his heart to […]
MINNEAPOLIS—Mahado Ali stood outside a convenience store just across the street from the Minneapolis Police Department’s first precinct headquarters, confronting looters who had pried open the business and were ransacking it. Out of the store ran two young white women, among others of all races, carrying a case of Bud Light and marijuana paraphernalia, laughing. Behind them came a young white man with a handful of cigarette lighters. He walked past Ali and she began filming. “Why would you give them a lighter?” she asked the man, who had passed out several to a group of other young protesters. “You gave […]
Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz said Saturday he was taking the unprecedented step of fully mobilizing the state’s national guard for the first time in history after another night of protests and destruction following the death of George Floyd. “The situation in Minneapolis is no longer in any way about the murder of George Floyd,” Walz said. “It is about attacking civil society, instilling fear and disrupting our great cities.” But the first term Democratic governor said outside forces who don’t share the state’s values are playing a major role in causing the chaos that has troubled the area in recent days. […]
Photo Illustration by Lyne Lucien/The Daily Beast/Getty Four days and three nights of unrest after Derek Chauvin’s knee was on the neck of George Floyd, the now former Minnesota police officer was charged with third-degree murder and manslaughter. Hennepin County Attorney Mike Freeman said the state investigation moved with “extraordinary speed,” noting that his office has never charged a police officer in “that kind of timeframe.” And yet, after viewing the video of Floyd’s death, most wonder why Chauvin wasn’t charged sooner. The answer is that the law deliberately stacks the deck in favor of police officers. All criminal defendants have […]
One week before the Minnesota National Guard was deployed to racial justice protests in Minneapolis, the organization released a statement about two members who’d made racist statements in a Snapchat video. “You’ll learn the military is racist as shit, so get used to it now you fucking piece of shit,” one of the guards-members said in the clip. The remark did not appear to be issued in condemnation of prejudice: The woman was responding to members of a military group chat who’d chided her friend, also in the Minnesota National Guard, for using a racist slur. The Minnesota National Guard deployed […]
US 19:01 GMT 28.05.2020Get short URL Newly released footage of the Monday night arrest of Minnesota resident George Floyd has offered additional insight into conduct exhibited by police on the scene prior to the fatal move that saw Floyd’s airway blocked for several minutes by an officer. Earlier this week, the Minneapolis Police Department explained that officers who responded to the scene at a Cup Foods grocery store for a “forgery in progress” call used force against Floyd after he reportedly physically resisted arrest. However, at present, new cellphone and surveillance footage fail to support that claim. The first video that […]