America on Fire: Violence Rages In George Floyd Protests

Coast to coast violent protests have rocked America as citizens continued demonstrating over police brutality with multiple governors imposing strict curfews to reduce the destruction of property and looting that many cities have not seen in decades.

After six days of severe lawlessness, Monday, June 1, 2020 saw demonstrators somewhat subdued and almost marking one full day of peaceful protest before agitators arrived and began full-scale looting, again.


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As early as Tuesday morning, the seventh day of protests, police officers in St. Louis, Missouri, were under siege with as many as five officers wounded by gun fire in the downtown area.

Many states, including California announced rolling curfews for the hardest hit areas in Santa Monica and Beverly Hills, which suffered extensive damage, as professional criminals who were able to navigate the police barricades brazenly smashed windows and grabbed whatever was available, some even had large shopping bags of filled with stolen merchandise.

Iconic Rodeo Drive also saw looting, as one African American man announced, thirty years ago, during the Rodney King riots, "we burned business in our neighborhoods, now we are burning business in the white neighborhoods."

The Grove, also a well known Los Angeles shopping center suffered extensive damage as looters tried to break into the Nordstrom Department Store. The criminal element, mingling with those who desire to peacefully protest, set a police kiosk on fire.


America Under Siege: One Week, Three Mass Shootings, Two Dozen Dead


Across the nation more than 146 cities have felt the shock of an angry people who gathered in massive demonstrations ignited by the recent murder of George Floyd by Minneapolis police while in custody.

Protesters in New York City continued to exhibit violence through Monday night smashing the windows at Macy's flagship store at Herald Square. Retailers who were planning to reopening after months of imposed closures are now putting back to business plans on hold.

"The looters tore off the plywood that boarded up Macy's flagship store in Herald Square, swarming by the dozens inside to steal whatever they could find before being chased down by the police. Others smashed the windows at a Nike store, grabbing shirts, jeans, and zip-up jackets. They crashed into a Coach store, vandalized a Barnes & Noble, ransacked a Bergdorf Goodman branch and destroyed scores of smaller storefronts along the way," The New York Times reported.

Minneapolis, ground zero in this instance, has seen both the best and the worst of the nation's protests. The official autopsy report was released which stated exactly what the world has known that Mr. Floyd died from asphyxiation.

"The Hennepin County Medical Examiner's office said Floyd died of "cardiopulmonary arrest complicating law enforcement subdual, restraint and neck compression." The manner of death was ruled homicide, but the office noted that "is not a legal determination of culpability or intent." A preliminary autopsy report cited earlier by prosecutors said the county medical examiner's review "revealed no physical findings that support a diagnosis of traumatic asphyxia or strangulation,"' CBS news reported.


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After six days of violence, which included shocking video of an 18-wheeler semi-tanker truck barreling down an empty 1-35W highway, scattered with overflow protesters, stopping, and being mobbed by angry protesters was reminiscent of the Reginald Denny attack in April 1992. The driver of the tanker has been charged.

"Civil rights leader Rev. Kevin McCall of New York, said he brought Terrence Floyd, [brother to George] community members and others out to the memorial site to urge calm. "We're sending a message to people all over the country," he said. "Stop the looting and throw up the peace sign. Don't stop protesting, but throw up the peace sign,"' Time magazine reported.

After six days of uncontrollable violence many states had not yet activated the National Guard, which in addition to supporting local law enforcement hold the line against the rampant lawlessness, violence and arson, their presence alone should act as a deterrent and de-escalate by separating the law-abiding protesters from the professional agitators and criminals bent on destruction of property, anarchy, and building subversion.

Internationally journalists from as far away as Australia have reported on the violence. Many experiencing extreme reactions from law enforcement as video of media and camera crews experience physical assaults and aggressive actions have surfaced. Shocking video feed from around the nation have shown officers using the very same knee to the neck tactic to subdue demonstrators used in the Floyd case.


One Week With The NYPD (Reprinted with Permission)


President Trump addressed the nation yesterday, after six days of violence that included attacks on police officers, arson, gasoline bombings, defacing of federal monuments, vandalism, shootings and wide scale rioting.

"Our nation has been gripped by professional anarchists, violent mobs, arsonists, looters, criminals, rioters, Antifa, and others. These are not acts of peaceful protest.  These are acts of domestic terror.  That is why I am taking immediate presidential action to stop the violence and restore security and safety in America.  I am mobilizing all available federal resources — civilian and military — to stop the rioting and looting, to end the destruction and arson, and to protect the rights of law-abiding Americans," the president said as he addressed the nation.

The voices demanding justice, now, will be disappointed as justice is a long road. Eric Garner's killers were not indicted. His death was filmed. The three New York Police officers charged in the killing of Sean Bell, ambushed in his car outside a club on the eve of his wedding day, were found not guilty. The LAPD officers charged in the filmed beating of Rodney King were found not guilty.

The hijackers of the peaceful protests have left a darkened stain across the nation and around the world, cost millions of dollars in damages, likely caused the COVID-19 virus to spike and with that delayed all phases of reopening, and will be what is remembered with the death of George Floyd simply a footnote.

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