George Floyd riots spiral out of control as cop cars are torched and 25 cities enact curfews

George Floyd riots spiralled out of control Saturday night as cop cars were torched, stores were looted and at least 11 states activated the National Guard on a fifth night of protests that show no signs of stopping. 

Scenes of destruction continued to spread across America as the death of the black man at the hands of white cop Derek Chauvin ignited outrage over what many feel is a systemic problem with police brutality against African-American men.

In Minneapolis, protesters were seen fleeing after cops hurled tear gas into the crowds while some responded by launching fireworks back at officers.  

The National Guard was activated to defend the White House from attack as the Secret Service agents on the ground struggled to keep control of crowds descending on the seat of the US government.

The Big Apple was ablaze as NYPD vehicles were torched and ransacked while shocking footage emerged of cops violently detaining protesters. 

A man was left critically injured in Dallas when he was attacked and stomped on by a group of people when he allegedly tried to defend a store with a large sword. 

In Atlanta a cop suffered ‘significant injuries’ when they were hit by an ATV, while in Chicago, a man commandeered a police horse and rode off on it. 

Los Angeles deployed the National Guard for the first since the 1992 riots when the police officers who beat up black man Rodney King walked free of all charges and California Governor Gavin Newsom declared a state of emergency in LA County.  

A total of 11 states and the District of Columbia had activated the National Guard by the early hours of Sunday, as law enforcement buckled under the strain of the protests.

States calling for Guard assistance included California, Georgia, Minnesota, Missouri, Nevada, Ohio, Tennessee, Texas, Utah and Washington state. 

Meanwhile at least 25 cities roll out emergency curfews to try to bring rioting and looting under control, including San Francisco, Atlanta, Louisville, Los Angeles, Portland, Columbia, South Carolina, Cincinnati, Cleveland and Seattle.

President Trump has put the Army on notice to deploy to the streets with a four-hour notice – the first time this will have been done in almost 20 years during the 1992 LA riots over the beating of black man Rodney King by cops. 

Minnesota – where Floyd died – has born the brunt of the protests which began there Tuesday before fanning out across the country.   

Rioting was still going on in the early hours of Sunday, with the Minneapolis police department reporting a big group of protesters on foot and in vehicles throwing missiles of some sort at cops. 

Minnesota Dept of Corrections Commissioner Paul Schnell announced early Sunday there had been ‘dozens’ of arrests through the night but no ‘substantive’ injuries.  

The Minnesota National Guard announced at around 10:30p.m. it was sending 10,800 troops in to tackle protests Saturday night, as pleas for people to observe curfews fell on deaf ears. 

The Minnesota National Guard said on Twitter it already had more than 4,100 citizen-soldiers and airmen already in the twin cities of Minneapolis and St. Paul and was ramping it up to a staggering 10,800. 

There were just 700 on duty on Friday. 

State police officers were seen in their masses surrounding the fifth police precinct Saturday night after officials insisted that the city would be brought under control following four nights of widespread destruction including a suspected looter being shot dead, businesses being burned to the ground and police officers forced to flee for their lives when a police precinct was stormed and torched.  

The city was filled with smoke Saturday as protesters let off fireworks and set fires.  

Hundreds of protesters had gathered outside the fifth precinct and were driven out by state cops using tear gas and firing rubber bullets. 

Footage showed protesters had retreated while the officers increased their circle around the vicinity – defending the police station for fear it will be stormed and torched like the third precinct was Thursday. 

People marching from Minneapolis to St. Paul were also met with tear gas from officers stopping them in their tracks and sending masses fleeing from the potent chemical.  

This comes as Governor Tim Walz has warned that a renewed spike in coronavirus cases could hit residents as protests have seen thousands take to the streets, while he admitted that the state’s jails cannot contain the number of people being taken into custody.  

The seat of the government was under threat from protesters leading to the National Guard being activated in Washington DC. 

Almost 1,000 protesters had surrounded the White House grounds Saturday night, where they engaged in a tense standoff with Secret Service, DC police and US Park Police.

Law enforcement struck protesters with batons and sprayed pepper spray into the crowds.   

Several protesters hit back by hurling fireworks and bottles at the officers. 

As law enforcement buckled under the weight of the protests, the National Guard was activated and at around 10p.m. National Guard trucks began rolling in to assist. 

Before night fell, protesters surrounded the seat of the US government for a second day and clashes broke out between the crowds and Secret Service agents.

Several demonstrators were seen standing on top of Secret Service vehicles and a security booth near the Eisenhower Executive Office Building.  

At least three Secret Service vehicles were seen with their windows smashed and with profanities scrawled on the side of them.

Protesters stood on the hoods and roofs and chanted ‘Black Lives Matter’ and ‘I can’t breathe’ – some of the last words Floyd said before he died.

The protests first reached the seat of the US government Friday night, with demonstrators marching to the White House, sending it into an emergency lockdown for a brief time. 

Secret Service officers stopped anyone entering the White House grounds, where Trump was in residence, after a demonstrator tried to scale the fence in Lafayette Park to get inside. 

The man was manhandled by Secret Service out of the park and taken into custody at the Treasury Annex.

Crowds followed law enforcement and the man to the jail and staged another protest outside – this one calling for a medic for the man after he was seen with blood pouring down his face, sparking renewed fears over police brutality and for the safety of a man held in police custody.  

Trump tweeted Saturday what a ‘great job’ Secret Service agents had done and threatened protesters they would be met with ‘ominous weapons’ if they did breach the White House grounds.

‘Great job last night at the White House by the U.S. @SecretService. They were not only totally professional, but very cool. I was inside, watched every move, and couldn’t have felt more safe. They let the ‘protesters’ scream & rant as much as they wanted, but whenever someone got too frisky or out of line, they would quickly come down on them, hard – didn’t know what hit them,’ he tweeted.

‘The front line was replaced with fresh agents, like magic. Big crowd, professionally organized, but nobody came close to breaching the fence. If they had they would. have been greeted with the most vicious dogs, and most ominous weapons, I have ever seen. 

‘That’s when people would have been really badly hurt, at least. Many Secret Service agents just waiting for action.’ 

NYC Mayor Bill de Blasio and President Trump clashed Saturday night over New York’s response to the escalating crisis there.  

Across New York, NYPD were engulfed in flames while officers were seen aggressively tackling protesters to the ground in at least a dozen protests in various parts of the Big Apple.  

A violent hour-long standoff between cops and protesters broke out near Brooklyn’s 67 police precinct where an NYPD SUV was torched and protesters clambered on top of an empty MTA bus.   

Around 100 cops in riot gear were forced to retreat momentarily as they were overwhelmed by hundreds of protesters hurling bottles at them. 

De Blasio broke his silence with a rare midnight emergency press briefing where he blamed Donald Trump for a rise in systemic racism across America.

‘I’ve not seen the specific words or actions coming out of the White House but I can tell you this and this is the blunt truth – the president of the United States helped create this atmosphere and that’s the tragedy here,’ he said.   

‘There’s been an uptick in hatred and tension and division since he came along and that’s just a fact,’ he said, adding that Trump has ‘poisoned the atmosphere’. 

His comments came after Trump appeared to show his support for NYPD officers in their response to Friday’s protests – despite multiple videos surfacing of violent altercations with protesters including one where a cop violently threw a woman to the ground and she needed medical attention.

‘Let New York’s Finest be New York’s Finest. There is nobody better, but they must be allowed to do their job!’ Trump tweeted Saturday.  

Things had already turned ugly in the Big Apple during the day as officers pushed the crowds back and protesters responded by hurling bottles and other objects at the cops. 

One protester was seen being violently arrested after they climbed on top of a police car.

An officer leaped onto the man throwing him to the floor as several more piled on and some struck the man with batons. 

Crowds screamed and one woman was then also aggressively pushed in the chest with a police baton while other protesters tried to save her from the wrath of cops. 

In other shocking footage circulating on social media, an NYPD officer appears to deliberately mow down protesters with his car. 

The vehicle is seen being blocked by a railing and protesters in the road before the car accelerates and drives into the crowds, as people are heard screaming. 

This came after New York Governor Andrew Cuomo and New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio announced they are launching separate investigations into the violent protests in Brooklyn on Friday where over 200 people were arrested and footage on social media showed cops violently handling protesters. 

In a video that has been widely circulated on social media, one NYPD officer was seen aggressively shoving a 20-year-old female protester to the ground. 

In Dallas, a man was violently beaten up by a group of people when he allegedly tried to defend a store from looters with a large machete.    

Police later confirmed he was stable in hospital. They said he had been assaulted when he confronted protesters. 

Across the city there had been 74 arrests by 10:45p.m. 

One person was shot dead and three other injured when gunfire rung out during a protest in downtown Indianapolis.

Authorities say they are investigating ‘multiple shootings,’ including one that left a person dead, in downtown Indianapolis. 

Indianapolis Police Chief Randal Taylor confirmed the news in a press conference and urged people to avoid the area warning them that ‘Downtown is not safe at this time’. 

This topped off escalating violence that night where protesters smashed windows of government buildings and officers fired pepper balls into crowds. 

According to IndyStar, the police department did not know for certain how many people were arrested but Deputy Chief Josh Barker said it was ‘a number’.

‘It has been driven by violent and riotous behavior by some of the individuals who have come to the downtown area this evening,’ he said.

Atlanta endured a second night of chaos Saturday when a police officer suffered ‘significant injuries when they were struck by someone driving an ATV during protests.

The incident took place about 10:30p.m. and the driver was taken into custody.

This came after Georgia Governor Brian Kemp signed an executive order Saturday night to activate up to 3,000 National Guard troops across the state.

National Guard soldiers were seen creating a barrier outside the Centennial Olympic Park in downtown Atlanta while fireworks rained down on police officers in some parts of the city. 

This came after a chaotic night in Atlanta Friday when demonstrators stormed and destroyed the CNN headquarters and fired a smoke bomb at cops trying to form a barrier to keep them out.   

Thousands of demonstrators also marched on Chicago Saturday night, with one man commandeering a police horse and taking off with it down the streets of the city.

Shocking footage from earlier in the day showed police officers being violently dragged along the floor by demonstrators and hit with banners by protesters.

Other protesters stepped in and formed a barrier round them so the cops could get back to their feet. 

Police cruisers were vandalized and some protesters picked up police barricades and hurled them at the vehicles.  

Others burned American flags, overturned police cars and climbed on top of a bus.  

Mayor Lori Lightfoot blasted the protests as ‘criminal conduct’ and imposed a nighttime curfew on the city that would run until further notice. 

This came after more than 100 people were arrested in the city Friday night.  

Widespread looting was also felt in Philadelphia where stores including the Apple Store and Sephora were all smashed up and ransacked as people broke in and stole goods.

At least 13 police officers were injured during the protests and parts of the city were on fire, leading Pennsylvania Governor Tom Wolf to sign an emergency declaration to assist the city.  

In Salt Lake City, thousands gathered and some set fire to cop cars, threw eggs and wrote graffiti on a police station. 

Los Angeles also erupted in violence Saturday as cops were seen beating protesters with their batons and the City of Angels went up in flames. 

LA Mayor Eric Garcetti deployed the National Guard to the city, mobilized its entire police department and California Governor Newsom declared a state of emergency in Los Angeles County. 

The historic moves showed the extent of the crisis as it marks the first time the entire force has been mobilized in 15 years when LA suffered devastating earthquakes in 1994 and 1995.

The calling in of around 500-700 National Guard troops also came just hours after Garcetti said he would stop short of calling for their activation.

‘This isn’t 1992,’ he had said Saturday afternoon, referring to the move made by officials during the 1992 riots after the Rodney King when all police officers involved in violently beating up the black man were acquitted.     

He had already announced a curfew in downtown LA starting 8p.m. Saturday through to 5:30a.m. Sunday, in desperate efforts to restore some order as he urged both law enforcement and protesters to ‘take a deep breath and step back for a moment’.   

In downtown Los Angeles, protesters sprayed graffiti and torched police cruisers while police shot rubber bullets into crowds and were seen beating demonstrators with batons. 

Horrifying footage on social media showed black actor Kendrick Sampson being struck by police batons and fired at with rubber bullets in the midst of the protest while screams ring out in the background. 

He is heard asking officers ‘why are you hitting me?’ as cops in riot gear strike him with their batons and shoot him with rubber bullets as he appears to be protesting peacefully.   

This marked the fourth night of protests for LA after it became one of the first cities to start a break-off protest Tuesday over Floyd’s killing. 

Curfews were also announced in other California cities including San Francisco, where the mayor called for the National Guard to be put on standby.

In Ferguson, Missouri, police officers were forced to evacuate a police department when protesters damaged the building.  

The St. Louis County Police Department tweeted that all non-essential personnel were evacuated when fireworks, bricks, rocks and bottles were thrown at the building. 

In another shocking image from the streets of Ferguson, a massive guillotine was pictured in the road. 

This comes almost six years after riots took place in Ferguson after 18-year-old black man Michael Brown was shot and killed by a white cop.

In Denver, a car appeared to deliberately drive into police squad cars during protests, with reports of multiple injuries emerging. 

The violent move came after police managed to disperse most crowds after the city’s 8p.m. curfew kicked in.

Around 18 protesters were arrested including two for felony charges, but cops said the night was calmer than Thursday and Friday 

The National Guard was activated to Seattle after the daytime peaceful protest descended into scenes of fire and vandalism into the evening. 

Shocking footage emerged on social media of flames billowing out of cop cars before police run to detain someone suspected of carrying a firearm. 

A plain-clothed cop is heard shouting put the weapon down as they run across the street with their firearm lifted towards someone.

Passersby and the person filming the scenes flee the scene amid fears of a deadly shootout breaking out. 

Several rioters were arrested in Tampa, Florida, after stores were looted and police cruisers were destroyed outside the Tampa Police District 2 office. 

As protests ramp up across the US, retailer Target announced it was temporarily closing 175 stores including 71 in Minnesota, 49 in California and 12 New York after a number of stores have fallen foul to vandalism and looting. 

Protests have been escalating across the US all week as Floyd’s family continue to call for a more serious charge than third-degree murder to be leveled against arrested former police officer Derek Chauvin.

Chauvin, 44, was arrested on Friday after days of protests calling for him to be charged.

A video of Floyd’s death shows the white cop, who was fired the next day, kneeling on Floyd’s neck for over eight minutes as he repeatedly states that he can’t breathe.

The family and protester are also calling for the three other officers involved in the arrest – J Alexander Kueng, Thomas Lane and Tou Thao – to be charged.