Grief and anger over George Floyd's death spark protests demanding change in week since video went viral

(CNN)In the days since George Floyd’s final words — “I can’t breathe” — thousands have poured onto the country’s streets to protest his death and the deaths of unarmed black men who died before him at the hands of police.

The nation watched Floyd’s last moments in anger and shock as he pleaded for his life while a Minneapolis officer kneeled on his neck. Protests began in Minneapolis and spread like wildfire across the US, including Los Angeles, Atlanta, Washington, DC, Miami, New York City and Chicago.

About 4,000 people have been arrested across the country since Tuesday, for reasons ranging from alleged curfew violations to acts of destruction.

More than two dozen cities enacted curfews over the weekend, and governors activated National Guard troops to keep the crowds home. Most protests were peaceful, with people carrying “Black Lives Matter” and “I can’t breathe” signs, chanting loudly and armed with face masks for protection against coronavirus.

But some groups turned violent over the weekend, torching buildings and police cars, smashing through windows of businesses, looting and clashing with police forces. Federal law enforcement officials said groups including white supremacists and anarchists are behind some of that violence.

Authorities responded with forceful confrontations, shooting tear gas, mace and rubber bullets at the crowds and arresting hundreds throughout the country. In New York City, a police vehicle was seen plowing through a crowd of protesters.In Atlanta, two officers were firedafter their violent arrest of two college students was caught on video.

It’s still unclear what the coming days will look like.

Latest developments

Chiara de Blasio, New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio’s daughter, was arrested Saturday night alongside other protesters, police sources say. She was arrested for unlawful assembly and was later released, the sources said.
Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz announced the Minnesota Attorney General’s office will be taking the lead on Derek Chauvin’s case, the officer seen pressing a knee on Floyd’s neck.
Chauvin, who was initially expected in court Monday, will make his first court appearance June 8. He’s been charged with with third-degree murder and second-degree manslaughter.
In New Jersey, the Atlantic City mayor said he was extending a nightly curfew through June 8. he said the city has had “its fair share of embarrassments, but this one today is at the very top.”

The crowds that stayed past nightfall

To help dampen the violence, at least 40 cities enacted curfews and more than a dozen governorsdeployed National Guard troops.

In Long Beach, California, some crowds defied the nightly curfew and began raiding and vandalizing stores Sunday night.

National Guard members were deployed to Long Beach to respond to the unrest and looting, which followed a day of peaceful protests across the state.

In the nation’s capital, a similar scene. Just before 8 p.m. Sunday night, officers in riot gear and protesters remained in a standoff in downtown Washington as crowds threw water bottles at police and authorities responded with flash bangs and pepper spray.

The entire DC National Guard — about 1,350 members — was called out Sunday night to assist police with protests in the city after several fires were set, including in a church just blocks from the White House.

In New York, a group of protesters remained in Manhattan as night fell, facing off with police after several fires were set and some stores were looted. The group was all that remained from the protests earlier in the day, where hundreds peacefully marched through the city’s streets.

“Black lives matter. That’s the message,” one protester told CNN affiliateWABC. “Peaceful. That’s all. Just hear us. Hear our cries.”

Who the looters are

Officials in several cities have warned that those who are raiding stores and creating scenes of chaos are not there to protest Floyd’s death.

Federal law enforcement officials said they’re aware of outside groups causing some of the violence, using the cover of the legitimate protests in Minneapolis and elsewhere. Those include white supremacists, anarchists and far-left extremists, some of whom have overlapping affiliations, they said.

In Minnesota, law enforcement officials also said they believe there are white supremacists who are attending demonstrations in Minneapolis and St. Paul, Department of Corrections Commissioner Paul Schnell said Sunday.

“They’re agitators,” he said, adding that authorities are trying to break up groups so “agitators” don’t gather and incite chaos.

He also added that there have been reports of Antifa attending the demonstrations.

Antifa, short for anti-fascists, describes a broad group of people whose political beliefs lean toward the left — often the far left — but do not conform with the Democratic Party platform.

In other parts of the US, officials say those wreaking havoc aren’t local.

In Miami, Police Chief Jorge Colina said “of the 57 people that were arrested, 13 of those 57 live in the city of Miami.”

Some of those who have been arrested are from Michigan, Georgia, New York and at least three are from Minnesota, he said. Others won’t say where they’re from.

In Chicago, Mayor Lori Lightfoot said looters organized and possibly came from outside of the city.

“There clearly was coordination, they were clearly listening to our radio traffic,” she said. “The number of U-Haul trucks that magically showed up in front of stores, car caravans that dropped people off and broke windows and then were hustling the goods out into the backs of the cars — absolutely, it was organized.”

CNN’s Ganesh Setty, Alexandra Meeks, Joe Sutton, Jamiel Lynch, Lechelle Benken,Greg Clary, Melissa Alonso, Laura Ly and Jim Acosta contributed to this report.

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