US protests: Pentagon sends 1,600 troops to Washington after Trump threatens protesters
Several US cities are under siege. Anti-racism protests continued on Tuesday (June 2nd), after Donald Trump threatened protesters to take the army out into the streets.
In fact, the Pentagon moved about 1,600 U.S. Army soldiers to the Washington, D.C. region after nights of protests and violence, Digi24 reports. Eight days after George Floyd's death, protests against racism and police brutality and social inequality do not seem to end too soon. People are more determined than ever to demand their rights in the streets, but President Donald Trump has told protesters he will use whatever means necessary to stop the protests. This threat provoked an even bigger wave of anger.
Thus, on Tuesday evening (June 2), thousands of people, including Democratic Senator Elizabeth Warren, peacefully defied the traffic ban in the federal capital Washington. The area around the White House has been blocked by barriers.
Also, at least 60,000 people paid their last respects to George Floyd at a peaceful rally in Houston, Texas, where he grew up and where he will be buried next week. The 45-year-old African American was killed by a white policeman. He was unarmed and in police custody when an officer kicked him in the neck for minutes while George Floyd begged for his life. The tragedy was filmed and angered the community of people of color, who have been facing police brutality for years.
In Manhattan, several thousand protesters gathered to protest peacefully near the New York police headquarters.
On Tuesday night, the situation was calm in Minneapolis, the epicenter of this wave of revolt that spread to more than a hundred American cities and resulted in thousands of arrests and several wounded among police and protesters.
Shocking statements! US President Donald Trump announced on Monday (June 1st) that he will send the army to the streets to stop the protests in Washington and promised to do the same in other cities if mayors and governors fail to regain control of the streets. The protests began after the death of George Floyd, an unarmed man in police custody, killed by a police officer.
"Mayors and governors must establish an overwhelming law enforcement presence until the violence is stopped," Trump said in the White House garden as protesters were scattered with tear gas.
"If a city or a state refuses to take the necessary measures to defend the lives and property of its inhabitants, then I will deploy the US military and quickly solve the problem in their place," Trump warned, according to news.ro.
President Donald Trump on Monday called on U.S. states to fight violent protests in cities, saying officials should "dominate" and arrest people to restore order after a sixth consecutive night of vandalism and robbery. press, reports Reuters.
Residents and business owners in cities from New York to Santa Monica, California, spent Monday cleaning broken windows and taking stock of damage following new violent clashes between protesters challenging racial inequalities and police.
Massive protests in London after the violent death of George Floyd: "There is no peace without justice"
The brutal death of George Floyd, an African-American who ended up trampled by a police officer, did not go unnoticed both in the United States and around the world. In Minneapolis, hundreds of people protested against the racist behavior of law enforcement and dozens of protesters were arrested. And the British were outraged by what happened and took to the streets to shout their revolt.
Hundreds of British people demonstrated in London on Sunday, May 31, after an African-American citizen found his end in a barbaric way, trampled on by a law enforcement officer. The 46-year-old man was immobilized, and the policeman continued to kneel on his head and neck until the man he found guilty of using counterfeit shopping bills took his last breath on the pavement.
After his death, people in the United States manifested their opposition to the racist attitude that law enforcement often displays. The British did not remain indifferent either, and on Sunday they met in Trafalgar Square to demand justice. "Without justice there is no peace!", The crowd chanted several times.
Demonstrators knelt, a gesture that became a symbol of the fight against discrimination in the United States, where similar rallies were held daily, after which they marched to the United States Embassy in Britain.
"Obviously, the images of what happened to George Floyd were extremely disturbing, as were the scenes of riots and violence in the United States," said British Foreign Minister Dominic Raab on Sunday. Asked on Sky News what he thinks about the issue, Raab declined to comment on a controversial tweet by Donald Trump and how he handled the crisis.
The American president, who has repeatedly denounced the "tragic" death of George Floyd, said the riots dishonored his memory by their "violence" and "vandalism". "When the robbery begins, it starts firing," he reacted in a message posted on Twitter, signaled by the social network as an "apology for violence."
Police in Hague detained about 400 people on Sunday after refusing to leave an organized protest to challenge the social deterrence measures imposed by the authorities to limit the spread of the coronavirus, Reuters reports.
Several thousand protesters gathered in the Malieveld area of ​​ Hague, near the seat of the Dutch government, even though the assembly had been banned by the authorities.
"I detained about 400 people today. Many of them have since been released, "police said on Twitter.
Authorities allowed a brief protest in the afternoon before asking protesters to leave.
Protesters wore T-shirts marked "Stop Restrictions" and had placards calling for the rule to keep people 1.5 meters apart from being removed.
Police in riot gear stormed a rally on Friday, removing hundreds of protesters by truck.
The mayor of Hague, Johan Remkes, said the demonstration was banned because authorities had information that "troublemakers" from across the Netherlands, including groups of hooligans at football matches, intended to come to The Hague.
"This has nothing to do with the right to protest or freedom of expression. This group deliberately intended to disturb public order, "Remkes said in a statement.
Several shops and police cars, vandalized in Germany. More than 200 police officers had to intervene
Groups of people broke the windows of shops in the center of the German city of Stuttgart, robbed and attacked police cars, among other acts of vandalism last night, BBC reports.
Police say several police officers were injured during the violence in southwestern Germany.
Videos posted on Twitter show people vandalizing shops in the city center and throwing large stones and other objects at police vehicles.
Stuttgart police say the violence began after police conducted checks in a drug incident.
So far, there are no other details about what caused the violent outbursts. Witnesses say hundreds of people were involved.
The police statement shows that some of those who vandalized the area threw stones from the pavement and other projectiles at the passing police cars. At one point, police said the situation was "out of control."
More than 200 additional police officers were sent to the city center, where shops were apparently attacked at random. Several shops were looted, according to law enforcement.
Thousands of Americans marked the 155th anniversary of "Juneteenth" (English name formed by the combination of the word "June" and 19) on Friday, the date of the abolition of slavery, amid racial tensions affecting the country after the death of George Floyd, according to AFP.
"I am a woman of color, I have lived in this country for 20 years and I am here to say that the lives of blacks matter, those of my children and brothers, to be able to live in a safe country," he told AFP , Tabatha Bernard, 38, originally from Trinidad and Tobago, in the huge New York procession.
Demonstrations on the occasion of "Juneteenth", the day in 1865 when the last slaves were released in Galveston, Texas, were organized in the four corners of the country.
In Washington, protesters who denounced "racism, oppression and police violence" first gathered around the Martin Luther King Memorial at the call of professional players from local basketball clubs.
Near the White House, the event was festive in the already well-known meeting place called "Black Lives Matter Plaza". Hundreds of people danced to the sounds of Go-go Music before marching through the streets of the center of the federal capital.
"We will not be able to eliminate all racist police officers," said Joshua Hager, 29, but "we want most of them fired and held accountable."
His partner, Yamina BenKreira, expressed the wish that the history of African Americans be better taught so that young people "become aware" of these discriminations.
In recent weeks, calls for the dismantling of monuments in memory of Confederate soldiers present throughout the south of the country have multiplied.
At the root of this movement is the debate over racism in America, rekindled by the death of George Floyd, a 46-year-old African-American who suffocated under the knee of a white police officer during his arrest in late May in Minneapolis.
