Clashes outside White House, more U.S. cities under curfew

Clashes outside White House, more U.S. cities under curfew

President Donald Trump spends nearly an hour in a bunker amid fury

02/06/2020, AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE,WASHINGTON

Growing rage: A protester throwing a U.S. flag into a burning barricade during a demonstration against the death of George Floyd near the White House on Sunday. AFP

The police fired tear-gas outside the White House late on Sunday as anti-racism protesters again took to the streets to voice fury at police brutality. Major U.S. cities were put under curfew to suppress rioting.

With the Trump administration branding instigators of six nights of rioting as domestic terrorists, there were more confrontations between protesters and the police and fresh outbreaks of looting.

Violent clashes erupted repeatedly in a small park next to the White House, with authorities using tear-gas, pepper spray and flash bang grenades to disperse crowds that lit several large fires and damaged property.

Secret Service agents rushed President Donald Trump to a White House bunker on Friday night as hundreds of protesters gathered outside the executive mansion. Mr. Trump spent nearly an hour in the bunker, which was designed for use in emergencies like terrorist attacks, according to a Republican close to the White House.

Local leaders appealed to citizens to give constructive outlet to their rage over the death of an unarmed black man in Minneapolis.

One closely watched protest was outside the state capitol in Minneapolis’ twin city of St. Paul, where several thousand people gathered before marching down a highway.

The Minneapolis police later reported that they had discovered caches of home-made fire-bombs around the two cities. There were other large-scale protests on Sunday night, including in New York and Miami.

In Louisville, Kentucky, CBS affiliate WLKY-TV reported the local police chief as saying law enforcement shot and killed a man early Monday morning as they broke up a crowd, although it was unclear if the group was taking part in protests.

Looting was reported on Sunday night in Philadelphia and the Los Angeles suburb of Santa Monica, and images on Fox TV showed ransacked Rolex and Gucci stores in New York city.

The shocking death last Monday of George Floyd at the hands of the police in Minneapolis ignited the nationwide wave of outrage over law enforcement’s repeated use of lethal force against unarmed African Americans.