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Tuesday, March 19, 2024

U.S. protesters defy curfews, threats of military force

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U.S. protesters defy curfews, threats of military force
U.S. protesters defy curfews, threats of military force

Peaceful marches and demonstrations were marred by instances of looting and attacks on police officers as protesters decried police for the use of force against minorities.

This report produced by Zachary Goelman.

Despite curfews and a threat from the president to use military force, protesters continued to demonstrate into the night Monday, decrying police brutality across the United States.

"It hurts.

Hashtag after hashtag, and scared for it to be me next.

I can be next." Amid the unrest, activists in some cities tried to keep the message from devolving into mayhem.

"We're here to make sure that everything is peaceful but is heard." Earlier in the day, in Minnesota's Twin Cities, thousands gathered outside the governor's mansion to demand justice for George Floyd, an unarmed black man who died last week in police custody.

One police officer has been charged with third-degree murder.

Minneapolis and St.

Paul enacted curfews after protests led to looting, and as night fell on Monday, police arrested dozens demonstrating outside the state capitol.

A similar scene in Dallas, where thousands protested peacefully in front of police headquarters.

As curfew went into effect, a crowd blocked traffic on a highway, and police brought in a bus to take away more than one hundred people arrested.

There were no reports of violence.

In some cases, protesters tried to keep the demonstrations from turning destructive.

In Indianapolis, activists and cops worked together to de-escalate confrontations.

Protesters in Brooklyn formed a human chain to protect a Target department store.

But calm didn't prevail everywhere.

Video showed a crowd tear the gate of a family pharmacy in Van Nuys.

Some who attended a Los Angeles civil rights protest decried the destruction and help sweep the shattered glass.

"We're here, trying to represent a whole different cause.

We're here to do it in a peaceful way.

And people that are doing this are ruining our chance to even protest." Police arrested several on suspicion of looting.

Cops with clubs responded after vandals ransacked a liquor store in Cicero, outside Chicago.

Video posted to social media showed a crowd breaking into a Manhattan Macy's department store, and mannequins lay on the sidewalk outside a ransacked Michael Kors near New York's 5th Avenue.

President Trump on Monday threatened to use the military to quell the unrest.

"If a city or state refuses to take the actions that are necessary to defend the life and property of their residents, then I will deploy the United States military and quickly solve the problem for them." That evening protestors in DC were met with a low-flying helicopter, its rotors kicking up wind and debris in what appears to be an attempt at crowd dispersal.

A Christian broadcast network had a brief exchange with a top U.S. general.

The chairman of the joint chiefs of staff, General Mark Milley, said he supported the right to protest as long as it remained peaceful.

"Everybody's got a right to protest, First Amendment is sacrosanct.

It's a right of the American people to protest, but protest peacefully."

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