PROTEST OR RIOT? ..... BOTH!

George Floyd's death sparks large protests, confrontations with Minneapolis police

By Li Cohen

CBS News
May 26, 2020

Large crowds gathered Tuesday to protest at the site where a man was violently arrested the night before. George Floyd, who was black, repeatedly told a white police officer kneeling on his neck that he couldn't breath. But despite Floyd's pleas for his life, the officer didn't let up for more than seven minutes, and Floyd died hours later. The incident was caught on video by an onlooker.

The case is drawing comparisons to the death of Eric Garner, an unarmed black man who died in a 2014 confrontation in the New York City borough of Staten Island after being placed in a chokehold by police.

People gathered on the 3700 block of Chicago Avenue, where Floyd was arrested for suspicion of forgery outside a deli. After he was taken into custody and the incident that followed, the 46-year-old was taken to Hennepin County Medical Center, where he was pronounced dead, according to CBS Minnesota.

Four police officers were fired Tuesday for their roles in the incident. The FBI is staking part in the investigation.

Protesters marched roughly two miles from the site of the arrest to the Minneapolis Police's 3rd Precinct building. According to CBS Minnesota, officers dressed in riot gear formed a barrier around the precinct, and videos show them using smoke bombs or tear gas, as well as flash grenades, against the demonstrators.

Along with videos of more peaceful protests, several videos posted on Twitter also show protesters throwing bricks and rocks at police cars, and smashing windows. CBS Minnesota reported that at least one officer has been injured.

There was no word on any protesters being arrested.

One protester tweeted a video of a fellow demonstrator getting hit in the head with an apparent rubber bullet.

Andy Mannix, a Star Tribune reporter, posted updates of the events on social media as they unfolded Tuesday. He tweeted footage of people dousing each other with milk after being hit with tear gas, and many hiding behind shopping carts from a nearby Target as they continued the standoff with police. Even when it started pouring rain, hundreds could still be seen protesting.

Mannix says he was shot in the thigh with a rubber bullet while covering the protests.

Mannix also photographed another man who was shot twice with marker rounds, once in his torso, and the other his arm. Minnesota Rep. Ilhan Omar tweeted Tuesday night that, "Shooting rubber bullets and tear gas at unarmed protesters when there are children present should never be tolerated. Ever. What is happening tonight in our city is shameful. Police need to exercise restraint, and our community needs space to heal."

Though he hasn't made any remarks since the protests began, Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey said earlier in the day that what happened to Floyd was "horrible," and "completely and utterly messed up."

"Being black in America should not be a death sentence," he posted on Twitter. "This man's life matters. He matters. ... I believe what I saw and what I saw is wrong on every level."
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New video shows George Floyd being dragged from his car without resisting arrest, handcuffed and manhandled on sidewalk before being 'murdered' by Minneapolis cop who knelt on his neck

Daily Mail
May 27, 2020

The video shows the moment Floyd was forcibly removed from his vehicle by two officers from the Minneapolis Police Department and placed in handcuffs on 38th and Chicago.

Officers were filmed wrestling with Floyd as they attempt to place him in handcuffs.

CCTV footage from a nearby restaurant appears to show the start of the altercation between Floyd and the officers on the scene. Floyd is handcuffed in the footage and appears to be complying with the officers as they escort him to the waiting police car. Moments later the 46-year-old was pinned to the ground by an officer and in disturbing footage can be heard pleading with the cop to stop, saying 'please, please, I can't breathe' and 'My stomach hurts. My neck hurts. Everything hurts.'

Witnesses at the scene urged the officer to stop, with one pointing out that the suspect was not resisting arrest.
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Eric Garner's mother says video of George Floyd saying 'I can't breathe' as white cop kneels on his neck before he died is a 'recurring nightmare' because it strikes a harrowing resemblance to her son's 2014 death

Daily Mail
May, 27, 2020

The mother of Eric Garner has been left horrified by the harrowing video of an unarmed black man crying ‘I can’t breathe’ while being pinned down by a white cop in Minneapolis – a case bearing a striking resemblance to her son’s 2014 death in New York.

Gwen Carr, whose 27-year-old son died after he was placed in an apparent chokehold by a NYPD officer, said she could barely stomach watching the video of George Floyd, 46, who was filmed passing out on the ground on Monday after four officers arrested him for allegedly trying to use forged documents at a local deli.

Floyd later died in hospital in an incident that is now under investigation by the FBI and has triggered a national outcry, with thousands of protesters to taking to the streets in anger.

‘It was déjà vu all over again,’ Carr told NBC. ‘It's like a reoccurring nightmare,’ she said.

Carr said the news of Floyd’s death has forced her to relieve the searing pain of her son’s similar and brutal demise.

‘It was just like me reliving my son’s murder all over again,’ Carr told PIX11. ‘It’s just so horrifying how these police officers come into our neighborhoods and terrorize and brutalize.’

‘Tears are in my eyes because it’s like it’s happening to me again and again. Why does this keep on happening over and over again?’

Carr added that she cannot see ‘any justification’ for the force used by the officers. ‘To put your knee on someone's neck, you are obstructing their breathing. That is completely a no-no,’ she told NBC.

‘Why would you keep your knee there?’ she asked, insisting that Floyd clearly needed help. ‘After three minutes, you don't realize that this man is saying that he can't breathe? And he's struggling, struggling for life?

While Minneapolis has moved much more quickly to fire the officers who contributed to Floyd’s death, Carr said she hopes his surviving family members attain justice much sooner than she did.

‘I hope this family doesn’t need to suffer like I suffered for six years,’ she said.

EDITOR'S NOTE: Carr feels she got justice when officer Daniel Pantaleo got fired. But the firing was a grave injustice to Pantaleo who was just trying to restrain Garner, a 400 pound 6'2" giant, who was resisting a lawful arrest. Pantaleo was fired at the persistent insistence of Sandinista-loving Mayor Bill de Blasio.