George Floyd protests: man killed in Detroit as demonstrations rage across US – as it happened

This blog is now closed. Our Saturday blog covering the George Floyd killing and protests can be found here:

30 May 202008.00 EDT

Paul MacInnes

This blog is now closing, and will soon be replaced by new coverage led by our team in New York.

One final link, to a piece that puts last night’s unrest across the United States in context:

Thank you for reading.

The mayor of Portland, Oregon, has imposed a curfew after what he described as a ‘riot’ in the city overnight.

Ted Wheeler decried scenes of unrest in Portland in a series of tweets and, in the past hour, has declared that citizens must stay home between 8pm and 6am.

Earlier, in an interview with with local radio station KGW , Wheeler, a Democrat, described the situation in his city: “This is a riot. It’s a full-on riot. We see people burning cars, we see people damaging businesses large and small, including some businesses I believe which are owned by local African-American business owners. We’re seeing looting.”

A summary of events on the streets of Oakland on Friday night, posted by a reporter from the local Mercury News

The leader of the opposition Labour party in the UK, Sir Keir Starmer, has said George Floyd’s death “must be a catalyst for change”.

He posted the following message on Twitter after a night of protests across the United States.

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US diplomats in Africa have said they are “profoundly troubled” by the death of George Floyd, in response to outrage from across the continent.

According to reporting by the Associated Press, ambassadors and embassies in five different African countries have issued statements following the death of 46-year-old Floyd this week at the hands of Minneapolis police.

Diplomats spoke up as the head of the African Union Commission, Moussa Faki Mahamat, condemned the “murder” of Floyd and said his organisation rejects the “continuing discriminatory practices against black citizens of the USA”.

The US ambassador to Congo, Mike Hammer, highlighted a tweet from a local media entrepreneur who addressed him saying, “Dear ambassador, your country is shameful. Proud America, which went through everything from segregation to the election of Barack Obama, still hasn’t conquered the demons of racism. How many black people must be killed by white police officers before authorities react seriously?”

The ambassador’s response, in French, said: “I am profoundly troubled by the tragic death of George Floyd in Minneapolis. The Justice Department is conducting a full criminal investigation as a top priority. Security forces around the world should be held accountable. No one is above the law.”

Similar statements were tweeted by the US embassies in Kenya and Uganda, while the embassies in Tanzania and Kenya tweeted a joint statement from the Department of Justice office in Minnesota on the investigation.

The musician Killer Mike has given an impassioned address to the citizens of his home town of Atlanta, calling for an end to looting.

The rapper was invited to speak at a press conference held by the mayor of Atlanta, Keisha Lance Bottoms, and used his speech to point out the successes of African-Americans in the city, as well as calling for structural change to combat racism.

Killer Mike, one half of the group Run the Jewels, was a leading voice during the Ferguson protests of 2014. His speech today has been widely shared on social media.

A DC based photographer, Matthew Rodier, has been streaming live pictures from protests outside the White House.

Crowds had been gathered outside the presidential residence for many hours. Earlier there were reports of some protesters hurling missiles at police, the police responding with pepper spray.

Police later declared the gathering “unlawful” and ordered everyone to leave Lafayette Square, a 7 acre public park located directly north of the White House.

Rodier brought his live stream to an end as the protesters dissipated. “For everyone that was on when the live stream cut out I’m good”, he wrote on Twitter. “I didn’t get arrested, all the protesters left so I did as well. Just got pepper sprayed a lot but that is a regular occurrence if you cover protests.”

I’m handing over to my colleague Paul MacInnes now. I’ll leave you with some images from the past few hours:

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There is a lot of damage in downtown LA, where police are still trying to get protesters off the streets.

The Associated Press reports that police in Louisville, Kentucky, have apologised for targeting a news crew during protests.

A crew from WAVE-TV was downtown in the Kentucky city Friday night, covering demonstrations over the death of Breonna Taylor, a black woman killed by police in her own home in March. Police presence intensified around 9:45pm, as officers in riot gear stood shoulder-to-shoulder moving people down a key street near City Hall, the Courier Journal reported.

As WAVE-TV was on air, reporter Kaitlin Rust is heard yelling off-camera: I’ve been shot! I’ve been shot!” Video shows a police officer aiming directly at the camera crew, as Rust describes the projectiles as pepper bullets.

“I want to apologize”, Louisville police spokeswoman Jessie Halladay told the Courier Journal. “It’s not something that should have occurred if she was singled out as a reporter.”

Halladay said she couldn’t tell who the officer was at this time, but that police would review the video again and “if we need to do any investigation for discipline, we will do that”.

Here’s a look at the treatment that the events of Friday have been given by a couple of the US papers: