Nationwide protests over the killing of George Floyd — the Black man who died Monday after a white Minneapolis police officer knelt on his neck — continued Friday evening as Americans demanded that those involved face justice.
On Friday, protesters took to the streets in Minneapolis; Washington; Louisville, Kentucky; New York City; Atlanta; Denver; Houston; Portland; Phoenix; San Jose and Bakersfield, California; Chicago; Detroit; and other cities.
The nationwide civil unrest follows a days-long wait for the Friday arrest of Minneapolis police Officer Derek Chauvin.
President Donald Trump tweeted early Friday about the previous nights’ protests in Minneapolis, calling the largely Black demonstrators “thugs” and threatening them with state-sanctioned violence, adding, “when the looting starts, the shooting starts.”
At a Friday event, he also expressed “deepest condolences” to Floyd’s family and lamented the “horrible, horrible situation,” but he also condemned the civil unrest, saying “we can’t allow” protests “to turn into anarchy and chaos” and “looters should not be allowed to drown out the voices of peaceful protesters.”
