Fires burned and and tear gas canisters flew in Minneapolis. In Seattle, smoke filled the air as police in riot gear lined the streets. And in Philadelphia, officers chased a group of people down the streets for violating curfew.
The National Guard dispatched to Washington, DC, to assist police handling protests around the White House, authorities said.
The former officer seen in a video kneeling on Floyd’s neck was arrested and charged. Protesters are demanding the arrest of three other officers at the scene.
Latest developments
• City curfews: A curfew is underway in cities like Atlanta, Philadelphia and Milwaukee until Sunday morning. Mayors in cities like Denver, Cincinnati, Louisville and Salt Lake City imposed evening curfews that will expire Monday morning.
• National Guard: At least six states and the District of Columbia have either activated or requested assistance from the National Guard, including Minnesota, Georgia, Ohio, Colorado, Denver and Kentucky.
• Clashes and arrests: More than 500 people were arrested in Friday night’s protests in Los Angeles, police said. New York City police have made more than 200 arrests connected to protests, and more than a dozen officers have been seriously hurt, according to a senior NYPD source. In Houston, nearly 200 people were arrested and most will be charged with obstructing a roadway, police said.
Minnesota officials say outsiders are hijacking protests
“Nothing we do to provide justice” for Floyd “matter(s) to any of these people who are out here firing upon the National Guard, burning” businesses and “disrupting civil life,” Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz told reporters on Saturday.
The governor said he understands that “Minnesotans’ … inability to deal with inequality” and racism was the catalyst for the protests — but he said rough estimates indicate only 20% of protesters there are Minnesotans.
St. Paul Mayor Melvin Carter said everyone arrested in his city on Friday night was from out of state.
A CNN analysis of data from the Hennepin County Sheriff’s office showed that more than 80% of those booked into jail on riot and other potentially riot-related charges over the last two days were from Minnesota.
Of the 51 people booked into jail between noon Thursday and noon Saturday on riot, unlawful assembly, burglary or damage to property charges, a total of 43 had an address listed in Minnesota, the data showed.
The data only covers people booked into jail, not necessarily all arrests. Hennepin County includes Minneapolis, but not St. Paul.
Officials did not provide further details about who exactly was fueling the unrest and where they were from. Harrington said he hoped to release more information later Saturday.
US Attorney General William Barr said the “voices of peaceful protest are being hijacked by violent radical elements” pursuing “their own separate and violent agenda.”
Without citing evidence, the attorney general said that in many places “it appears the violence is planned, organized, and driven by anarchic and left extremist groups, far-left extremist groups using Antifa-like tactics, many of whom traveled from outside the state to promote the violence.”
A Justice Department spokeswoman later said the information underpinning Barr’s assertion came from state and local law enforcement.
Vandalism in Los Angeles and Chicago
Protests were underway Saturday in cities like Chicago, Baltimore, Los Angeles and Washington, DC, where several Secret Service vehicles were vandalized with graffiti outside the White House.
A demonstration in Los Angeles led to clashes between police and protesters. Police vehicles were vandalized in Los Angeles by some protesters who kicked in the windows or sprayed the cars with graffiti. Police fired rubber bullets at demonstrators, who chanted “Black Lives Matter” and “George Floyd.”
Aerial footage from CNN affiliate WLS showed protesters in Chicago vandalizing police vehicles. Some threw water bottles at police officers in riot gear, while others were seen lifting police barricades and throwing them at police cars.
In Philadelphia, police said protests at City Hall and the Art Museum began peacefully before a group of others began “committing criminal acts, including vandalism.”
In Atlanta, police braced for more potential protests and arrests Saturday night. Members of the National Guard gathered at Lenox Square Mall after the police department said it would be assisted by about 20 other agencies to monitor activity and “protect vulnerable business districts and retail centers”
Protests turned deadly in some cities
People initially gathered peacefully in some places but anger boiled over as the hours passed.
At a protest in Detroit, one person was shot dead.
“It’s about time this police brutality has to stop. I don’t agree with breaking into all of the businesses, but I can understand the outrage after REPEATED incidents,” Mackenzie Slagle said of protests in Oakland. “Because I’m a white woman, and I needed to show up for all my brothers and sisters.”
“Killer” was scrawled across a damaged police car in Los Angeles where protesters lined up along a freeway to block traffic. At least two officers were injured during the night, said the LAPD.
But other cities saw a contrast of demonstrators.
Minneapolis and St. Paul were under a curfew after looting and arson broke out during days of protests. But hundreds took to the streets as police fired tear gas and protesters hid behind cars.
Video shows 3 officers kneeling on George Floyd
Derek Chauvin, the former officer charged in Floyd’s death, is being detained at the Ramsey County Jail in Saint Paul, a spokeswoman with the state’s bureau of criminal apprehension told CNN.
Chauvin had his knee on Floyd’s neck for a total of 8 minutes, 46 seconds, according to a criminal complaint filed Friday.
All four officers were fired this week after Floyd’s death.
A preliminary autopsy said the combined effects of Floyd being restrained, potential intoxicants in his system and underlying health issues, including heart disease, contributed to his death.
So far, there are physical findings to support strangulation as the cause of death, the medical examiner said but CNN Chief Medical Correspondent Dr. Sanjay Gupta cautioned it doesn’t necessarily mean Floyd didn’t die from asphyxiation.
CNN has reached out to the former officer’s attorney and the Minneapolis police union for comment.
CNN’s Melissa Alonso, Casey Tolan, Steve Almasy, Ryan Browne, Pervaiz Shallwani, Barbara Starr, Anna Sturla, Joe Sutton and Amir Vera contributed to this report.
