Trump pushes military response as U.S. girds for more protests

By Nathan Layne and Brendan O'Brien

 

Jacque Jackson (R) and Charlie St. Pierre take part in a rally following the death in Minneapolis police custody of George Floyd, in Boston, Massachusetts, U.S., June 2, 2020. REUTERS/Brian Snyder

 

NEW YORK/MINNEAPOLIS (Reuters) - President Donald Trump on Tuesday said U.S. troops should take to the streets of New York City to quell unrest, as authorities across the country prepared for another night of protests over the death of an unarmed black man in police custody.

 

Dozens of cities are under curfews. The head of the U.S. National Guard said on Tuesday that 18,000 Guard members were assisting local law enforcement in 29 states.

 

Lawmakers and law enforcement officials seemed taken aback by the extent of mayhem overnight in some major U.S. cities where police were shot at and pelted with rocks and projectiles as they faced hostile crowds.

 

Demonstrators smashed windows and looted stores in New York, including luxury retailers on Fifth Avenue, and set fire to a Los Angeles strip mall. Four officers were shot in St. Louis and one in Las Vegas who was critically wounded, authorities said.

 

Trump has threatened to use the military to battle violence that has erupted nightly, often after a day of peaceful protests. He has derided local authorities, including state governors, for their response to the disturbances.

 

"NYC, CALL UP THE NATIONAL GUARD. The lowlifes and losers are ripping you apart. Act fast!" Trump tweeted on Tuesday. He deploying thousands of armed soldiers and law enforcement in the U.S. capital and vowed to do the same wherever authorities fail to regain control.

 

New York Governor Andrew Cuomo voiced outrage at the chaos in America's largest city, saying its mayor and police force "did not do their job last night." He said he believed Mayor Bill de Blasio underestimated the scope of the problem.

 

The governor said he had offered the state's mayors support from state police or 13,000 National Guard who are on standby and said that with a 38,000-strong police force, New York City should be able to address its unrest on its own.

 

He added that Trump sought to blur the line between protesters representing a cross-section of Americans with a legitimate cause and looters. Authorities blame the looting and vandalism on a relatively small number of people protesting against police brutality.

 

De Blasio poured cold water on the idea of deploying the National Guard in his city.

 

Demonstrators have taken to the streets over the death of George Floyd, a 46-year-old African American who died after a white policeman pinned his neck under a knee for nearly nine minutes in Minneapolis on May 25.

 

Derek Chauvin, the 44-year-old Minneapolis police officer who planted his knee on Floyd's neck, has been charged with third-degree murder and second-degree manslaughter. Three other officers involved have not been charged.

 

MARTIN LUTHER KING REMEMBERED

Floyd's death has reignited the explosive issue of police brutality against African Americans and led to a painful reexamination of race relations five months before a divided America votes in a presidential election.

 

Some of those who have gathered at the site of Floyd's killing have invoked the non-violent message of the late U.S. civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr., assassinated in 1968, as the only way forward.

 

"He would be truly appalled by the violence because he gave his life for this stuff," said Al Clark, 62, a black man who drove to the Minneapolis memorial with one of King's speeches blaring from his truck.

 

"But I can understand the frustration and anger."

 

In Atlanta, six officers will face charges for an incident in which two college students were removed from their car and tased, Fulton County District Attorney Paul Howard told a briefing. Two of the six officers were terminated on Sunday.

 

A police officer in Sarasota, Florida, was placed on leave on Tuesday after video surfaced showing the officer kneeling on a man's back and neck during an arrest in May.

 

Officers were injured in clashes elsewhere, including one who was in critical condition after being hit by a car in the Bronx, police said.

 

The protests have escalated racial tensions in a country hit hard by the coronavirus pandemic, with African Americans making up a disproportionately high number of cases and being hard hit by job losses from lockdowns to stop the spread of the virus.

 

Critics accuse Trump, who is seeking re-election in a Nov. 3 election, of further stoking conflict and racial tension rather than seeking to bring the country together and address the underlying issues.

 

"President Trump is right to be focused on law and order. He wasn't hired to be the consoler-in-chief," said Jason Miller, who advised the Republican Trump's 2016 presidential campaign.

 

Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden pledged in a speech on Tuesday to try to heal the racial divide in America and blasted Trump's response to the protests.

 

(Reporting by Barbara Goldberg, Lisa Lambert, Maria Caspani, Peter Szekely, Zachary Fagenson, Brendan O'Brien, Nathan Layne, Susan Heavey and Brad Brooks; Writing by Paul Simao; Editing by Howard Goller)

 

-- © Copyright Reuters 2020-06-03

 

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23 minutes ago, webfact said:

were shot at and pelted with rocks and projectiles as they faced hostile crowds.

Stupid people.

 

Make small problem into very big problem. 

Trump has his war, but sadly against his own people.

For a guy who avoided the draft Trump sure loves calling in the military 

Trump the disaster in chief he’s done nothing to ease the situation but has done much to make it worse just pathetic 

I thought the reason for the fifth amendment was to prevent a president behaving the way Trump is doing right now.

Maybe these protests will wake up a few Americans who after more than 3 years still support Trump.

Does he make the situation better or worse? Does he act like a president should and unite the people?

He is obviously not only useless, he makes the situation worse. But I wouldn't bet that his supporters realize this.

35 minutes ago, Yinn said:

Stupid people.

 

Make small problem into very big problem. 

And then there are the people who think a big problem is a small problem.

Who is stupid?

Not going well.

 

Right now protestors are near NYC's Gracie Mansion where Trump-hating Mayor Bill de Blasio lives.  Concern is they will breach the mansion.

 

Sending "thoughts and prayers" to the leftist mayor.  ????

26 minutes ago, pegman said:

For a guy who avoided the draft Trump sure loves calling in the military 

Trump went to military school and always wanted to serve.  He just waited until he could come it at the top level, Commander-in-chief!

Edited June 3, 20206 yr by Kelsall

Just now, Kelsall said:

Trump went to military school and always wanted to serve in the military.  He just waited until he could come it at the top level, Commander-in-chief!

 

It is time to start busting heads in the USA cities.

The chaos needs to end and if splitting some wigs gets the

message across then so be it.

 

2 minutes ago, 4reaL said:

 

It is time to start busting heads in the USA cities.

The chaos needs to end and if splitting some wigs gets the

message across then so be it.

 

This is just the start of the chaos, plenty more to come with mass unemployment and social distancing measures.

A post with a link to an unapproved social media source has been removed:

 

18) Social Media content is not to be used as  source material unless it is from a recognized or approved news media source,  the source of any such material (Twitter, Facebook, YouTube  etc.) should always be shown.

 

1 hour ago, Yinn said:

Stupid people.

 

Make small problem into very big problem. 

This is how people with situational ethics act

 

They cry crocodile tears & pretend to be changing the world

 

Truth is the cop committed murder

Truth is he will be held accountable by the law

 

Somehow protesters believe this gives them the right to burn & loot other innocent citizens

property etc etc etc

 

It should not be tolerated & hopefully the same law used to judge the cop who committed murder will be equally used against

these looters

 

 

 

Edited June 3, 20206 yr by meechai

32 minutes ago, tribalfusion001 said:

This is just the start of the chaos, plenty more to come with mass unemployment and social distancing measures.

 

 

A: There is mass unemployment already, you think those protestors took 

time off from work?

 

B: There is 0 social distancing taking place at those stupid gatherings 

 

  

18 minutes ago, meechai said:

This is how people with situational ethics act

 

They cry crocodile tears & pretend to be changing the world

 

Truth is the cop committed murder

Truth is he will be held accountable by the law

 

Somehow protesters believe this gives them the right to burn & loot other innocent citizens

property etc etc etc

 

It should not be tolerated & hopefully the same law used to judge the cop who committed murder will be equally used against

these looters

 

 

 

Those who you designate as protesters are thieving street level criminals. quite possibly some with gang associations. It would be interesting to hear from law enforcement the percentage of who are looters and destroyers compared to peaceful protesters. IMO the data would greatly assist to get a clearer understanding of the current social disorder rather than broad brush accusations demeaning valid protest against injustice. 

The MN cop should be charged with 2nd degree and others with some form of manslaughter. Protests are OK but on day one all governors of states with major cities should have activated all National Guards positioned in place with overwhelming force to prevent what has been going on for a week. On day one any state that did not comply would necessitate Trump ordering the military in with martial law. Unfortunately these saps for governors as well as president failed to prevent this ongoing disaster. 

The sad sight of the looters and rioters protesting the death of their chosen idol, George Floyd, the serial armed robber will linger long in American minds. 

The troops should have been sent in days ago to teach the unruly scum a lesson.

 

1 hour ago, metisdead said:

A post with a link to an unapproved social media source has been removed:

 

18) Social Media content is not to be used as  source material unless it is from a recognized or approved news media source,  the source of any such material (Twitter, Facebook, YouTube  etc.) should always be shown.

 

 

More posts with links to unapproved social media sources has been removed. 

 

An off topic trolling post has been removed. 

I see a black police officer has been shot dead during the protests, I’m sure this will be swept under the carpet

Quote

De Blasio poured cold water on the idea of deploying the National Guard in his city.

So not even the National Guard deployed in NYC yet.

 

Could it be that Mayor De Blasio is not deploying maximum force against the protesters because his own daughter is part of the protesters?

 

"The Sergeants Benevolent Association posted a police report on the arrest of Chiara de Blasio during a protest on Saturday night."

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/06/01/nyregion/chiara-de-blasio-arrest.html

 

3 hours ago, Yinn said:

Stupid people.

 

Make small problem into very big problem. 

I gather that it's difficult fir you to comprehend as a Thai, given your own police force and army's murderous history against it's own citizens. So it would be much better if you tried to understand, that we in the West simply can not and do not tolerate blatant acts of murder by an institutionalsed racist police force in this day and age.

This kind of thing is happening all too frequently, their voices are not being heard. But the murder of innocent black Americans continues. So this is the result !!!

Perhaps a lesson to be learnt for Thailand ???

"While no one condones looting…one can understand the pent-up feelings that may result from decades of repression and people who have had members of their family killed by that regime (Saddam Hussian)... And I don't think there’s anyone accept it as part of the price of getting from a repressed regime to freedom."

Donald Rumsfeld
April 2003

Hummm ????

4 minutes ago, Buba Ho Tep said:

"While no one condones looting…one can understand the pent-up feelings that may result from decades of repression and people who have had members of their family killed by that regime (Saddam Hussian)... And I don't think there’s anyone accept it as part of the price of getting from a repressed regime to freedom."

Donald Rumsfeld
April 2003

Hummm ????

  Thank you for this. Yes it makes people very angry when the US are so quick to condemn and criticize other countries for their treatment when suppressing and/or oppressing those minorities in these countries.

1 hour ago, Logosone said:

So not even the National Guard deployed in NYC yet.

 

Could it be that Mayor De Blasio is not deploying maximum force against the protesters because his own daughter is part of the protesters?

 

"The Sergeants Benevolent Association posted a police report on the arrest of Chiara de Blasio during a protest on Saturday night."

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/06/01/nyregion/chiara-de-blasio-arrest.html

Currently a dispute between the major and governor regards deployment of the National Guard.

 

https://edition.cnn.com/2020/06/02/politics/andrew-cuomo-new-york-city-floyd-protests/index.html

 

Have you read the link you provided? NYC police used nasty tactics releasing Chiara's personal details on twitter, IMO the person/s responsible should be arrested and charged for endangerment & breach of civil rights.

Edited June 3, 20206 yr by simple1

3 hours ago, simple1 said:

Those who you designate as protesters are thieving street level criminals. quite possibly some with gang associations. It would be interesting to hear from law enforcement the percentage of who are looters and destroyers compared to peaceful protesters. IMO the data would greatly assist to get a clearer understanding of the current social disorder rather than broad brush accusations demeaning valid protest against injustice. 

Hello??? Who do you think we are talking about when we need to bring in a curfew & help like National Guard etc?

 

 

Las Vegas police said they were responding to a demonstration outside the Circus Hotel and Casino late Monday when the shot ran out. An officer was struggling with a protester when someone walked up and shot the officer in the back of the head, a spokesman said. 

 

In St. Louis, where police officials say officers were hit with rocks, four officers were shot during the unrest there

 

Last week, a woman tossed a molotov cocktail into an occupied police vehicle

 

That was from today's Nation

https://www.nationthailand.com/news/30388972?utm_source=bottom_relate&utm_medium=internal_referral

 

There is much much more

 

Where do you think this is headed?

 

Would anyone blame any police department who at some point throws up their hands & says we quit your on your own?

 

Then what??

 

Of course the United States of America has not one problem with peaceful protests & peaceful protest are not being denied

 

But as usual the left want no crisis to go to waste & tries to leverage it into some BS cause.

Well good luck with that if the cops do say enough is enough. Will it affect you? Do you live in the USA?

 

All these situational ethics BS protesters will be crying help anyone please help us when the police stand down

 

As originally stated the event that sparked this was plain murder & that cop will surely pay under the law

None in the USA deny this including the cops

 

Edited June 3, 20206 yr by meechai

21 minutes ago, meechai said:

Hello??? Who do you think we are talking about when we need to bring in a curfew & help like National Guard etc?

 

 

Las Vegas police said they were responding to a demonstration outside the Circus Hotel and Casino late Monday when the shot ran out. An officer was struggling with a protester when someone walked up and shot the officer in the back of the head, a spokesman said. 

 

In St. Louis, where police officials say officers were hit with rocks, four officers were shot during the unrest there

 

Last week, a woman tossed a molotov cocktail into an occupied police vehicle

 

That was from today's Nation

https://www.nationthailand.com/news/30388972?utm_source=bottom_relate&utm_medium=internal_referral

 

There is much much more

 

Where do you think this is headed?

 

Would anyone blame any police department who at some point throws up their hands & says we quit your on your own?

 

Then what??

 

Of course the United States of America has not one problem with peaceful protests & peaceful protest are not being denied

 

But as usual the left want no crisis to go to waste & tries to leverage it into some BS cause.

Well good luck with that if the cops do say enough is enough. Will it affect you? Do you live in the USA?

 

All these situational ethics BS protesters will be crying help anyone please help us when the police stand down

 

As originally stated the event that sparked this was plain murder & that cop will surely pay under the law

None in the USA deny this including the cops

 

Forget the event that sparked this, not important anymore. It is about all that was in the kettle before, that is boiling over now. 

 

Nothing to do with lefties, BS protesters, etc, it is about institutional racism in the US.

12 minutes ago, meechai said:

Hello??? Who do you think we are talking about when we need to bring in a curfew & help like National Guard etc?

 

 

Las Vegas police said they were responding to a demonstration outside the Circus Hotel and Casino late Monday when the shot ran out. An officer was struggling with a protester when someone walked up and shot the officer in the back of the head, a spokesman said. 

 

In St. Louis, where police officials say officers were hit with rocks, four officers were shot during the unrest there

 

Last week, a woman tossed a molotov cocktail into an occupied police vehicle

 

That was from today's Nation

https://www.nationthailand.com/news/30388972?utm_source=bottom_relate&utm_medium=internal_referral

 

There is much much more

 

Where do you think this is headed?

 

Would anyone blame any police department who at some point throws up their hands & says we quit your on your own?

 

Then what??

 

Of course the United States of America has not one problem with peaceful protests & peaceful protest are not being denied

 

But as usual the left want no crisis to go to waste & tries to leverage it into some BS cause.

Well good luck with that if the cops do say enough is enough. Will it affect you? Do you live in the USA?

 

All these situational ethics BS protesters will be crying help anyone please help us when the police stand down

 

As originally stated the event that sparked this was plain murder & that cop will surely pay under the law

None in the USA deny this including the cops

 

Your link doesn't identify the political motivation of the attackers, nor so far as I'm aware has the trump administration other than unproven inflammatory rhetorical statements. One assumes the vast majority are criminally related with a mix of left / right extremists. Your article does mention a proven case of white supremacists motivation who in recent years represent the majority of politically motivated murders in the US. Have to wait and see who's behind the majority of current violent attacks and their political motivation, if any.

 

Extremists from both sides of the political divide seek to leverage conflict for political benefit, it's nonsensical to claim it's only those from the left.

2 hours ago, cyril sneer said:

I see a black police officer has been shot dead during the protests, I’m sure this will be swept under the carpet

 

This retired cop was shot by looters whilst trying to protect his friends pawn shop. 

Looters then stood over him filming and live streamed his death on Facebook. 

The police are scared to protect the innocent now fearing being accused of racism. 

1 minute ago, twocatsmac said:

 

This retired cop was shot by looters whilst trying to protect his friends pawn shop. 

Looters then stood over him filming and live streamed his death on Facebook. 

The police are scared to protect the innocent now fearing being accused of racism. 

Thanks for that 2catsmac. Can you take an educated guess as to why this good citizen, a retired police Captain's murder by thugs that know the democrats will post bail for them is barely considered newsworthy to the American legacy media? Yet a violent career criminal's accidental death resulted in looting, burning and violence on a scale never before seen in America? I can't see why the response is so totally different? Unless.......