Protesters stormed Minneapolis again Thursday night, facing down police officers and torching a Minneapolis police station that the department abandoned, according to The Associated Press.
The protests stretched from nearby St. Paul, Minnesota, to cities across the country, as tensions flared over the death of George Floyd, a handcuffed black man who had pleaded for air as a white police officer kneeled on his neck — a story that has captivated the country in recent days.
Similar protests broke out in Louisville over the death of Breonna Taylor, a black woman who was shot dead by white police officers who entered her home back in March, according to The New York Times. Seven people were shot in those protests.
Trump’s response
- In response, President Donald Trump slammed “total lack of leadership” of Minnesota in a tweet.
- Trump wrote: “Just spoke to Governor Tim Walz and told him that the Military is with him all the way. Any difficulty and we will assume control but, when the looting starts, the shooting starts.”
- Twitter issued a warning for a second Trump tweet, which called the protesters “thugs.” Twitter said the tweet violated the social media platform’s rules for “glorifying violence.”
What it looked like
The Associated Press captured a number of photos from Thursday night’s protests. We’ve rounded up several of the photos and shared them below.
Some context:
- Riots broke out Wednesday night, too, in cities like Minneapolis, Los Angeles, Memphis and more, as I reported for the Deseret News. At least one person was fatally shot in the Minneapolis area for the protests.