Secret Service Agents Deploy Tear Gas at White House as They Battle Protesters over Barricades
NICHOLAS KAMM/AFP
1:36
Secret Service agents continued struggling with protesters at the White House on Friday night as protests continue in several major cities in reaction to the death of George Floyd.
Shouting protesters rocked and ripped away temporary barricades from Pennsylvania Avenue as Secret Service tugged them back, according to videos from outside the White House posted on social media.
At times, agents allowed protesters to keep parts of the barricade, bringing in replacements to fill the gaps.
Agents were spotted putting up helmets and carrying riot shields as they stood between the protesters and the barricades.
Protesters did not breach the newly
constructed 13-foot fence protecting the White House as a wall of agents remained on guard.
When armed agents approached the crowds of protesters, they routinely threw up their hands and cried, “don’t shoot.”
Other reporters present noted that firecrackers were thrown at the agents.
Later, people in the crowd shouted that tear gas was spotted at the protests.
A Fox News producer reported that an agent was apparently hurt in the struggle.
Another video from the White House showed protesters shouting “Fuck Donald Trump”:
The White House was on lockdown earlier in the evening as protesters gathered outside and started pushing the barriers. The lockdown was lifted after about an hour as the protests subsided, allowing reporters inside the building the opportunity to leave.
But the protesters returned later in the evening.
At Least 7 People Shot in Louisville, KY, During Protests Against Police
GIANRIGO MARLETTA/AFP via Getty
1:34
At least seven people were shot Thursday night in Louisville, Kentucky, during protests against police.
Shots rang out around 11:30 p.m., and two people were wounded badly enough to require surgery. All the wounded were civilians.
The
Courier Journal reports Louisville Metro Police spokesperson Alicia Smiley stressing “police officers did not fire their guns.” The sources of the gunfire have not been identified, but some arrests have been made.
The protests began between 6 p.m and 7 p.m. and continued until heavy rains drove the crowds home in the early morning.
The hundreds of protesters chanted, “No justice, No peace, Prosecute the police,” as they protested the March 13, 2020, officer-involved shooting death of 26-year-old Breonna Taylor.
CBS News
reports Taylor’s family released a statement Thursday night “urging protesters to be peaceful, go home and keep fighting for truth.”
Trump threatens to mobilize the military to shoot protesters
Mass anger erupts throughout the US in protests against police murder of George Floyd
Protests and demonstrations have erupted throughout the US in an explosive reaction to the police murder of George Floyd in Minneapolis, Minnesota.
In Minneapolis, thousands gathered on the same block where Floyd was killed and marched to the Minneapolis Third Police Precinct building. Multiple fires were burning Thursday, including at the Third Police Precinct, which remains on fire at the time of writing. The Minnesota National Guard announced late last night that 500 soldiers had been activated and were preparing to deploy.
Also late Thursday night, US President Donald Trump threatened to deploy the military against the demonstrators and shoot protesters. “I can’t stand back & watch this happen to a great American city, Minneapolis,” Trump tweeted. “Either the very weak Radical Left Mayor, Jacob Frey, get his act together and bring the City under control, or I will send in the National Guard & get the job done right.”
Police move through an area during demonstrations Thursday, May 28, 2020, in St. Paul, Minn. (AP Photo/Julio Cortez)
Trump called the protesters “THUGS” and said that he “just spoke to [Minnesota] Governor Tim Walz and told him that the Military is with him all the way. Any difficulty and we will assume control but, when the looting starts, the shooting starts.”
Demonstrations were also held in New York City, where 33 protestors were arrested after a scrum with police. Hundreds of people also participated in demonstrations in Columbus, Ohio; Albuquerque, New Mexico; Pensacola, Florida; Louisville, Kentucky; and Los Angeles, California. In Columbus, protesters attempted to break into the Ohio statehouse.
Several hundred gathered in downtown Louisville and marched through the streets to demand the arrest of the cops who killed Breonna Taylor in March. In Denver, Colorado, a protestor was hit by a car that forced its way through the crowd.
Floyd was murdered Monday after being
seized by four Minneapolis cops who were
responding to an alleged “forgery in
progress.” As of Thursday, none of the cops
involved in the murder had been arrested or
charged.
Floyd repeatedly cried out for help, screaming “I can’t breathe” and “I’m gonna die,” as Derek Chauvin kneeled on his neck and Tou Thao helped keep the crowd from interfering.
At a Thursday afternoon press conference, Democratic Mayor Jacob Frey attempted to placate protesters and pleaded with them to “be better than we have been.” Minneapolis Police Chief Medaria Arrodondo joined in the plea to restore order in the city. “I know that there is currently a deficit of hope in our city… But I will not allow anyone to continue to increase that deficit by re-traumatizing those folks in our community,” he said.
Popular anger was further stoked Thursday by the comments of the prosecutor who has jurisdiction over the case, Hennepin County Attorney Mike Freeman. He told reporters that there is “other evidence that does not support a criminal charge… I will not rush to justice.”
Freeman is responsible for the decision to not bring charges against the officer who killed Jamar Clark in 2016, sparking days of protest, as well as the more than half-a-year delay in deciding to charge and arrest the officer who shot and killed Justine Damond in 2017.
The eruption of anger is not only over the killing of George Floyd. This is only the latest in an unending string of killing and brutalization. Every year, the police in the US kill 1,000 people in cities and states throughout the country, whether run by Democrats or Republicans.
To the outrage over police violence is added the explosive situation created by the response of the ruling class to the coronavirus pandemic. Trillions have been handed out to the rich, while tens of millions of workers are out of work and will not have a job to return to.
The Trump administration is seeking to utilize mass social distress to force a return to work that will lead to a sharp spike in COVID-19 cases and deaths. Already, more than 100,000 people have died from the coronavirus.
From the representatives of the ruling elite,
there have been the usual hypocritical
statements that follow every horrific police
killing. Democratic presidential candidate Joe
Biden, who was vice president under Barack
Obama, declared that the killing of Floyd is
“part of an ingrained systemic cycle of
injustice that still exists in this country.” The
Obama Justice Department repeatedly
whitewashed police killings, refusing to bring
federal charges against killer cops.
This is combined with the efforts of Democratic Party figures like Al Sharpton and Jesse Jackson to frame police violence as a product of racial conflict, as they did in speeches at the Minneapolis protest on Thursday.
There is no doubt that racism was involved the killing of Floyd and other incidents of horrific police violence. The most backward and fascistic layers are deliberately recruited into the police. The Trump administration in particular has encouraged unrestrained police violence with impunity.
However, the police are fundamentally an instrument of class rule. As social tensions reach a breaking point in the United States, the ruling class is turning ever more directly to the mobilization of its apparatus of repression.
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