MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 31st May, 2020) A police officer was stabbed in the neck during a George Floyd protest in the US city of Jacksonville, the CNN broadcaster reported on Sunday, citing the local sheriff.
According to Jacksonville Sheriff Mike Williams, the officer was "stabbed or slashed in the neck and is currently in the hospital."
Williams added that the rioters threw rocks and bricks at other law enforcement officers during the protests late on Saturday and that many protesters were detained.
Jacksonville Mayor Lenny Curry, in turn, told reporters that the protest initially began as a peaceful sit-in with about 1,200 people, but turned violent after respectful families left.
"We're not going to tolerate it in our city or let our city burn to the ground," Curry was quoted as saying by CNN.
According to the broadcaster, Jacksonville has not yet imposed a curfew, unlike 25 other cities across 16 states in the country.
Public unrest has been shaking the US since Tuesday, after George Floyd, an African American man, died following his arrest by the four officers in Minneapolis. A video that went viral, shows a white police officer, Derek Chauvin, pinning Floyd to the ground with his knee on his neck for nearly eight minutes. Floyd repeatedly told the police officer that he cannot breathe until becoming unresponsive. Floyd died at a local hospital shortly thereafter.
