MINNEAPOLIS (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 31st May, 2020) US police used tear gas and rubber bullets to disperse protests in Minneapolis on Saturday evening, a RIA Novosti correspondent reported from the scene.
Several hundred people and about three dozen vehicles were moving along Lake Street that had been most affected by a series of violent riots provoked by the death of African American George Floyd in police custody.
The police blocked their way near the end of the street. A sign of hesitation was seen in the crowd. Some protesters were demanding not to be afraid of the police and move on, while others were calling to look for a different path.
Suddenly, the US National Guard troops appeared behind the column. They opened fire and fired a tear gas grenade toward a group of journalists.
The crowd quickly disappeared in nearby streets. National Guard troops and police were remaining on the street for some time and before leaving Lake Street, they gave the command to wear gas masks.
Local residents say via social networks that the units of the National Guards launched a mopping-up operation on Minneapolis streets on Saturday evening.
Protests erupted in various cities across the United States this week after George Floyd, an African-American man, died in police custody on Monday. He was detained outside the Cup Foods corner store in Minneapolis on Monday evening, after a store clerk called the police claiming that Floyd had paid for cigarettes with a counterfeit $20 bill.
A video circulating online shows Derek Chauvin, a Minneapolis white police officer, pinning unarmed Floyd to the ground with his knee; Floyd repeatedly says that he cannot breathe until becoming unresponsive. Chauvin has been charged with third-degree murder and second-degree manslaughter. A total of four police officers have been fired in connection with the incident.
