WASHINGTON — Protesters took to the streets across the country again Sunday, from San Francisco to Boston, in angry but largely peaceful demonstrations, as officials in several states called in more National Guard troops and curfews were imposed to stem days of fires, tear gas and unrest.
Fury over police killings of black people, most recently the death of George Floyd in the seething city of Minneapolis one week ago, propelled protests as tensions heightened over a weekend of widespread looting and violence. On a highway bridge in Minneapolis, a man was arrested Sunday after driving his tanker truck into a large crowd of protesters, injuring some.
Such images went viral in disturbing videos that marked a conflicted nation. Thousands marched peacefully in Boston. But people robbed stores in broad daylight in Philadelphia, where citizens and police pleaded for a halt to the violence, seen as undermining calls for justice and reform. “It only hurts the cause,” said Danielle Outlaw, the police chief.
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Protesters stand on top of a burned LAPD cruiser. (Wally Skalij / Los Angeles Times)
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Protesters stand on top of a bus stop at the Los Angeles Civic Center to demonstrate for justice Wednesday night. (Luis Sinco/Los Angeles Times)
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Protestors turn on their cell phone flashlights at Los Angeles City Hall at 9 pm on Wednesday as part of a silent protest against the death of George Floyd. (Gary Coronado/Los Angeles Times)
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A protester confronts National Guardsmen as thousands of protesters march down Spring Street in Los Angeles to demonstrate for justice in the George Floyd murder by cop case Wednesday. (Luis Sinco/Los Angeles Times)
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Protesters dance on Spring Street in downtown Los Angeles Wednesday night. (Luis Sinco/Los Angeles Times)
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Thousands of protesters march down Spring Street in Los Angeles Wednesday night to demonstrate for justice in the killing of George Floyd. (Luis Sinco/Los Angeles Times)
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LAPD Cmdr. Gerald Woodyard takes a knee with protesters and L.A. clergy during a march in downtown Los Angeles on Tuesday. (Kent Nishimura/Los Angeles Times)
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Khalil Mitchell speaks to protesters kneeling near a police line, preaching calm and working to preserve a peaceful protest on Monday. (Robert Gauthier/Los Angeles Times)
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In Hollywood, hundreds of protesters march Monday against police brutality. (Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times)
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AJ Lovelace, a director and writer, and others keep potential looters from entering a dry cleaning store as they attempt to march peacefully. “We need peace and we need someone to talk to each other,” he said after the looters fled the scene. (Robert Gauthier/Los Angeles Times)
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Demonstrators in Riverside retreat as county sheriff’s deputies fire nonlethal rounds on Monday after law enforcement announced an unlawful assembly. (Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Times)
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Protesters in Riverside. (Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Times)
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An arrest in Hollywood during a protest Monday. (Gary Coronado / Los Angeles Times)
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A demonstrator, injured while trying to flee the firing of nonlethal rounds, lies on the ground in Riverside. (Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Times)
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An LAPD officer arrests a looting suspect in an alley behind a Hollywood Boulevard store. (Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times)
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Riverside County deputies advance on demonstrators on Monday. (Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Times)
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Fireworks thrown by a protester explode at the feet of Riverside police. (Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Times)
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Riverside County Sheriff Chad Bianco takes a knee with demonstrators. (Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Times)
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A watch and jewelry store is looted in Van Nuys on Monday. (Kent Nishimura / Los Angeles Times)
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A looting arrest in Van Nuys. (Kent Nishimura / Los Angeles Times)
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AJ Lovelace, director and writer, tries to stop looters from breaking into a Walgreens in Hollywood. (Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times)
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An LAPD officer arrests a suspected looter in an alley behind a Hollywood Boulevard store. (Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times)
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Police advance on a line of protesters in Hollywood, firing rubber bullets. (Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times)
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Arrests are made of those out after curfew in Hollywood. (Francine Orr / Los Angeles Times)
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Protesters in Hollywood. (Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times)
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A store is looted in Hollywood. (Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times)
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Protesters in Hollywood. (Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times)
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People out after curfew are arrested Monday at Sunset Boulevard and Gower Street. (Gary Coronado / Los Angeles Times)
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Arrests in Hollywood. (Gary Coronado / Los Angeles Times)
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Protests in Westwood. (Kent Nishimura / Los Angeles Times)
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Volunteers help clean up the mess left by looters in Long Beach. (Allen J. Schaben / Los Angeles Times)
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Protest in Hollywood. (Francine Orr / Los Angeles Times)
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National Guardsmen outside Santa Monica Place. (Al Seib / Los Angeles Times)
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Gilbert Haro and sons Richard, 8, and James, 6, help clean up in Santa Monica. (Al Seib / Los Angeles Times)
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Protesters face off with police in Santa Monica on Sunday. (Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times)
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Santa Monica stores were the target of looting on Sunday. (Wally Skalij / Los Angeles Times)
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Suspected looters in custody in Santa Monica on Sunday. (Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times)
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L.A. County sheriff’s deputies in Santa Monica on Sunday. (Wally Skalij / Los Angeles Times)
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Sake House employee Jared Settles can’t bear to watch as the restaurant burns in Santa Monica on Sunday. (Wally Skalij / Los Angeles Times)
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An arrest in Santa Monica on Sunday. (Wally Skalij / Los Angeles Times)
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Broken glass from a looted store covers the sidewalk in Santa Monica. (Wally Skalij / Los Angeles Times)
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Cecelia Rosales, who said she was homeless, walks past a line of police officers in Santa Monica on Sunday. (Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times)
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A man guards a convenience store in Santa Monica. (Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times)
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Looting erupted Sunday in Long Beach. (Francine Orr / Los Angeles Times)
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Police and protesters face off in Santa Monica on Sunday. (Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times)
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A police officer inspects the damage to a Santa Monica supermarket. (Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times)
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A protester is treated after being struck by a rubber bullet. (Wally Skalij / Los Angeles Times)
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Looting in Long Beach on Sunday. (Luis Sinco / Los Angeles Times)
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Looting in Long Beach. (Luis Sinco / Los Angeles Times)
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A suspected looter in Long Beach. (Francine Orr / Los Angeles Times)
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Smashing windows in Santa Monica. (Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times)
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An arrest in Santa Monica on Sunday. (Wally Skalij / Los Angeles Times)
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People walk away with surfboards in Santa Monica on Sunday. (Wally Skalij / Los Angeles Times)
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People rush out of a looted store in Santa Monica. (Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times)
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Protesters in downtown Los Angeles on Sunday. (Myung J. Chun / Los Angeles Times)
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Cheers for protesters in downtown Los Angeles. (Myung J. Chun / Los Angeles Times)
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City Hall on Sunday. (Myung J. Chun / Los Angeles Times)
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A shattered storefront on Melrose Avenue on Sunday. (Christina House / Los Angeles Times)
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Smashed windows on La Cienega Boulevard. (Christina House / Los Angeles Times)
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Downtown L.A. on Sunday. (Wally Skalij / Los Angeles Times)
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People carry merchandise from a looted store. (Kent Nishimura / Los Angeles Times)
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A person carries items from a looted store in the Fairfax District on Saturday. (Kent Nishimura / Los Angeles Times)
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A couple of protesters embrace on Fairfax Avenue in Los Angeles Saturday. (Wally Skalij/Los Angeles Times)
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People protest Saturday at Pan Pacific Park. (Kent Nishimura/Los Angeles Times)
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Protesters gather around a fire in the middle of a downtown L.A. street on Friday. (Luis Sinco / Los Angeles Times)
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Police fire percussion rounds to clear protesters from Grand Avenue in in downtown Los Angeles on Friday. (Luis Sinco / Los Angeles Times)
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A protester remains defiant after being pushed to the ground by police on Grand Avenue in downtown Los Angeles on Friday. (Luis Sinco / Los Angeles Times)
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Protesters are arrested by Los Angeles police in front of City Hall on Saturday. (Gary Coronado / Los Angeles Times)
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Protesters block the 110 Freeway. (Wally Skalij / Los Angeles Times)
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Protesters take to the streets Friday in downtown L.A. (Kent Nishimura / Los Angeles Times)
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Protesters are escorted off the northbound 110 Freeway in downtown Los Angeles. (Wally Skalij / Los Angeles Times)
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A protester is escorted off the northbound 110 Freeway in downtown Los Angeles. (Wally Skalij / Los Angeles Times)
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Protesters climb over a barrier during the May 29 protest in downtown L.A. (Kent Nishimura / Los Angeles Times)
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Protesters block the 110 Freeway northbound and southbound in downtown Los Angeles. (Wally Skalij / Los Angeles Times)
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Police officers assume a defensive stance as a protester approaches them on the 110 Freeway on May 29. (Luis Sinco / Los Angeles Times)
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During a May 29 protest, Los Angeles police patrol the 110 after having moved protesters off the freeway. (Gary Coronado / Los Angeles Times)
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A protester rides a skateboard on the 110 Freeway. (Wally Skalij / Los Angeles Times)
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Protesters block the 110 Freeway northbound and southbound in downtown Los Angeles. (Wally Skalij / Los Angeles Times)
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A protester confronts LAPD officers on Friday in downtown L.A. (Wally Skalij / Los Angeles Times)
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A protester lies hurt on the 101 Freeway near downtown Los Angeles on May 27. (Gabriella Angotti-Jones / Los Angeles Times)
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An injured man gets up with the help of emergency workers during a protest May 27 in downtown L.A. (Dania Maxwell / Los Angeles Times)
Officers were battered with bricks and Molotov cocktails in West Philadelphia, and several police vehicles were vandalized, looted and set aflame. Curfews were imposed in major cities around the country, including Atlanta, Chicago, Denver, Los Angeles, San Francisco and Seattle.
Mayors of several afflicted cities said they were still struggling to understand the complex dynamics behind an outbreak of vandalism and property destruction that has accompanied protests that first erupted in Minneapolis after Floyd‘s death. The 46-year-old black man died after a police officer knelt on his neck for nearly nine minutes. The officer, Derek Chauvin, has been fired and faces third-degree murder charges.
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Seattle Mayor Jenny Durkan said that two distinctly different crowds showed up on in her city Saturday. Thousands of people protested peacefully at City Hall and a police station, she said.
Police form a line on H Street as demonstrators gather to protest the death of George Floyd, Sunday, May 31, 2020, near the White House in Washington. Floyd died after being restrained by Minneapolis police officers.
(Alex Brandon/AP)
“At the same time that was going on, literally blocks away, it was a very different scene, with people who came with backpacks full of weapons of different kinds, from pipes to sticks to frozen water bottles to incendiary devices,” she said at a news conference Sunday. “When people come and they have that activity, they should expect a response from the police.”
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President Trump remained out of sight in the White House, as protesters massed again by nightfall and police rushed in to reinforce the Secret Service and National Guard. Trump issued occasional staccato Tweets, such as “FAKE NEWS!” and “LAW & ORDER!”
Earlier Sunday, Trump blamed far-left activists for a flare-up of street violence amid nationwide protests against police brutality, even as critics denounced him for stoking divisiveness at a moment when COVID-19 and economic ruin are already causing upheaval across the country.
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Demonstrators vandalize a car as they protest the death of George Floyd on Sunday near the White House in Washington, D.C. Floyd, a black man, died after being restrained by a white Minneapolis police officer. (Evan Vucci/ Associated Press)
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Police form a line on H Street as demonstrators gather to protest the death of George Floyd on Sunday near the White House in Washington. (Alex Brandon / Associated Press )
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Police wait in the driveway to the entrance of the Hay-Adams Hotel as demonstrators protest the death of George Floyd on Sunday. (Alex Brandon/Associated Press )
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A group of men defy a curfew in Minneapolis on Sunday to pay their respects at the makeshift memorial and mural outside Cup Foods where George Floyd died. (Jason Armond/Los Angeles Times)
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A woman defies curfew in Minneapolis on Sunday to pay her respects at the makeshift memorial and mural outside Cup Foods where George Floyd died. (Jason Armond/Los Angeles Times)
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Police advance to engage protesters Saturday after a day of mostly peaceful protest in Minneapolis over the death of George Floyd. (Jason Armond / Los Angeles Times)
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Demonstrators stand on the steps of the Minnesota State Capitol as thousands of protesters gather Sunday to demand justice for George Floyd as the Minnesota National Guard secure the perimeter of the Capitol building on Sunday in Minneapolis. (Jason Armond / Los Angeles Times)
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Jennifer Hauge joins in a protest rally at the 5th Precinct police station in Minneapolis on Saturday. “It’s important to come out and make sure our black brothers and sisters know their lives matter, and that George [Floyd]’s life mattered,” said Hauge. (Carolyn Cole/Los Angeles Times)
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Jorge Fernandez, right, is comforted by a friend at a rally where George Floyd died early this week. “Everyone wants peace,” Fernandez said. “None of this can bring peace. It’s heartbreaking.” (Carolyn Cole/Los Angeles Times)
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Protesters in Minneapolis. (Jason Armond/Los Angeles Times)
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Protesters use milk to help a woman affected by tear gas fired by police near the 5th Precinct in Minneapolis. (Jason Armond/Los Angeles Times)
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One woman expresses her desire for peace and love. Despite a curfew, protests and looting went all throughout the night in various parts of the city of Minneapolis. (Carolyn Cole/Los Angeles Times)
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Protesters hold fists in the air in front of a burning car lot on Friday night in Minneapolis. (Jason Armond/Los Angeles Times)
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Protesters loot a gas station on the corner of Lake street and Park Avenue in Minneapolis. (Jason Armond/Los Angeles Times)
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Despite a curfew, protests and looting went on throughout Friday night in various parts of the city of Minneapolis. (Carolyn Cole/Los Angeles Times)
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A protester rides a motorized cart on Friday night through the streets of Minneapolis. (Jason Armond/Los Angeles Times)
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The National Guard blocks the road as protesters gather on the corner of Lake Street and Park Avenue Friday night in Minneapolis. (Jason Armond/Los Angeles Times)
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The National Guard blocks the road as protesters gather on the corner of Lake Street and Park Avenue Friday night in Minneapolis. (Jason Armond/Los Angeles Times)
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The National Guard blocks the road as protesters gather on the corner of Lake Street and Park Avenue in Minneapolis. (Jason Armond/Los Angeles Times)
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Demonstrators on the streets of Minneapolis on Friday. (John Minchillo / Associated Press)
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People run as tear gas canisters land near them. (Scott Olson / Getty Images)
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People attempt to extinguish cars on fire in Minneapolis. (John Minchillo / Associated Press)
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An Atlanta Police Department vehicle burns in a protest Friday. (Mike Stewart / Associated Press)
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Demonstrators in Minneapolis on Friday night. (Carolyn Cole/Los Angeles Times)
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A burning police car in Atlanta. (Elijah Nouvelage / Getty Images)
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Looting in Minneapolis. (Scott Olson / Getty Images)
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A protester yells at a member of the Minnesota National Guard. (John Minchillo / Associated Press)
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Protesters demonstrate outside a burning Minneapolis 3rd Police Precinct on Thursday. (John Minchillo / Associated Press)
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Protesters demonstrate outside a burning Minneapolis 3rd Police Precinct in Minneapolis over the death of George Floyd, a black man who died in police custody. (John Minchillo / Associated Press)
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Protesters in Minneapolis demonstrate outside a fast food restaurant that’s in flames. (John Minchillo/Associated Press)
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Protesters enter a smoke-filled part of Minneapolis’ 3rd Police Precinct. (John Minchillo/Associated Press)
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Protesters linked in arms demonstrate outside a burning Minneapolis 3rd Police Precinct. (John Minchillo/Associated Press)
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Protesters stand outside the Minneapolis 3rd Precinct station. (Molly Hennessy-Fiske / Los Angeles Times)
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Protesters demonstrate outside the Minneapolis 3rd Police Precinct, which is in flames. (John Minchillo/Associated Press)
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A protester douses her face with milk after being exposed to tear gas fired by police in St. Paul. (John Minchillo/Associated Press)
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A protester faces off with two police officers using less-lethal ammunition in their weapons in St. Paul. (John Minchillo/Associated Press)
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A person takes items from a liquor store in Minneapolis. (John Minchillo/Associated Press)
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A man breaks a window at a tire store in St. Paul. (John Minchillo/Associated Press)
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Bystanders watch as police walk down a street in St. Paul. (John Minchillo/Associated Press)
The president tweeted that his administration would designate a loose movement of self-described fighters against fascism, known as “antifa,” as a “terrorist organization.” The label, typically used for foreign militants such as Islamic State, makes it illegal for U.S. citizens to support the organization.
Trump’s authority to make such a designation in a domestic context is unclear, and the groups he is targeting lack a formal structure and centralized leadership, raising doubts about enforcement.
“The United States of America has no legal authority to designate any domestic entities as ‘terrorist organizations,’” said Steve Vladeck, a national security law expert at University of Texas.
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Just as with the coronavirus outbreak, competing political narratives have emerged over the root cause of the civil unrest. On Sunday, Trump’s national security advisor, Robert O’Brien, blamed “bad apples” in law enforcement rather than systemic racism for repeated episodes of lethal force against black men and boys.
The president’s critics, primarily Democrats, said the wellspring was deeper. Former Newark Mayor and New Jersey Sen. Cory Booker, who sought the Democratic presidential nomination, cited a searing legacy of fear and mistrust.
“You know the history from which it springs,” he said of Floyd’s death. “You know the depth of the pain and anguish, where black people in communities all across this country live in fear of the police.”
Booker, interviewed on CNN’s “State of the Union,” said the protests were “not just a reaction to a live or caught-on-tape murder, but to deep wounds within our society, within our body politic.”
Benjamin Crump, an attorney for the Floyd family, told CBS’ “Face the Nation” that “the only thing that can put out these fires are police accountability and equal justice.”
As unrest has spread, the Trump administration has insisted that outsiders using protests as cover for acts of violence were left-wing anarchists, not right-wing extremists, such as white nationalist groups that have been cited as a threat by the Department of Homeland Security.
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Atty. Gen. William Barr, at a news conference on Saturday, blamed “anarchic and left extremist groups” who traveled across state lines to take part in protests, without specifying how that conclusion was reached.
Mayors and other state and local officials have generally painted a more nuanced picture, saying it is not entirely clear who violent outside actors are.
“We’re working to get to the bottom of that right now,” said Melvin Carter, the mayor of St. Paul, Minn., interviewed on “Face the Nation.” Atlanta’s Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms, appearing on NBC’s “Meet the Press,” said community organizers had “shared that these were people from the outside” committing acts of violence, but “they did not know them, and had no idea where they came from.”
O’Brien, on “State of the Union,” said he was not aware of reports that white nationalists and other far-right groups may have infiltrated the protests. “This is being driven by antifa,” he said. In a separate appearance on ABC’s “This Week,” he echoed that, saying “everything I’m seeing is that this is antifa.”
But mixed messages are not uncommon in the Trump administration, and Secretary of State Michael R. Pompeo, interviewed on Fox News’ “Sunday Morning Futures,” was less definitive.
“I think it still remains to be seen exactly how what began as peaceful protests by people who were clearly saddened and frustrated by the police action against George Floyd … proceeded to get this way,” Pompeo said. “But we have seen this pattern before, where outsiders have come in.”
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Top Trump aides have been consistent, however, in avoiding any characterization of police misconduct as a recurring pattern. On CNN, O’Brien was asked whether Floyd’s death pointed to systemic racism in American law enforcement agencies.
“No. I don’t think there’s systemic racism,” O’Brien said. “There are some bad apples in there, and there are some bad cops that are racist.” He used almost identical language in an appearance on ABC: “There are a few bad apples out there, whether they’re racist or ill-trained or just vicious.”
Former Vice President Joe Biden, the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee, left his home in Wilmington, Del., Sunday afternoon to visit the site of Saturday’s protests there. It was only the second time that he has appeared publicly outside his house since stay-at-home orders were issued during the pandemic.
A photo on Biden’s Instagram account showed him wearing a mask and blue suit, talking with men also wearing masks on a street corner strung with police tape. In a statement below the photo, he wrote that “we are a nation in pain, but we must not allow this pain to destroy us.” Instead, he wrote, anguish must be turned to purpose.
“And as president, I will help lead this conversation -- and more importantly, I will listen, just as I did today visiting the site of last night’s protests in Wilmington,” Biden wrote.
Demonstrators protest the death of George Floyd, Sunday, May 31, 2020, near the White House in Washington. Floyd died after being restrained by Minneapolis police officers.
(Alex Brandon/AP)
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Events surrounding the protests also revived a familiar debate over the president’s bellicose rhetorical style.
A tweet by Trump on Friday saying that “when the looting starts, the shooting starts” — a quote dating back to police crackdowns on civil rights marchers in the 1960s — was flagged by Twitter as violating the social media site’s rules prohibiting the glorifying of violence.
The president also tweeted Saturday that if protesters outside the White House had breached its fence, they would have been met by “vicious dogs” and “ominous weapons.”
Washington, D.C., Mayor Muriel Bowser, appearing on “Meet the Press,” said Trump should refrain from “divisive tweets that are meant to hearken to the segregationist past of our country.”
“He should just stop talking,” Lance Bottoms, the Atlanta mayor, said on CNN. “He speaks, and he makes it worse.”
Even a Republican senator offered mild criticism. “Those are not constructive tweets, without any question,” Sen. Tim Scott of South Carolina told “Fox News Sunday.”
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Scott said he spoke with Trump on Saturday and expressed the belief that the president would strike a more constructive tone going forward. Trump did invoke unifying language following the successful space launch of two U.S. astronauts in Florida on Saturday when he declared himself “a friend and ally to every American seeking justice and peace.”
But by late Saturday, he appeared to again be making veiled threats of use of force when he wrote on Twitter that the National Guard had been “released” in Minneapolis, adding: “No games!”
About 5,000 National Guard soldiers and airmen were activated over the weekend in 15 states and Washington, D.C.
Trump also unleashed a fresh attack Sunday on the news media, following reports from journalists who said they were deliberately targeted by police during protests. “They are FAKE NEWS and truly bad people with a sick agenda,” he tweeted.
Laura King reported from Washington, D.C.; Richard Read reported from Seattle.
Laura King is a reporter with the Los Angeles Times’ Foreign/National staff, primarily covering foreign affairs. She previously served as bureau chief in Jerusalem, Kabul and Cairo.
Richard Read was the Los Angeles Times bureau chief in Seattle, covering Washington, Oregon, Montana, Idaho, Alaska and Hawaii. A former Tokyo-based foreign correspondent, he won a Pulitzer Prize for a series that explained the Asian financial crisis by following a container of French fries from a Northwest farm to a Singapore McDonald’s. He served on a team that won the Pulitzer for Public Service for exposing U.S. immigration agency abuses. Born in Scotland and raised in Boston, he has reported from all seven continents. He retired in 2021.
