Violence and other controversies have occurred during the George Floyd protests. Protests and unrest began in Minneapolis, Minnesota in the United States on May 26, 2020 in response to the killing of George Floyd by Minneapolis Police Department officer Derek Chauvin. Local protests in the Minneapolis–Saint Paul metropolitan area quickly spread nationwide in more than 2,000 cities and towns, as well as over 60 countries internationally in support of the Black Lives Matter movement.
About Violence and controversies during the George Floyd protests in brief
Violence and other controversies have occurred during the George Floyd protests. Protests and unrest began in Minneapolis, Minnesota in the United States on May 26, 2020 in response to the killing of George Floyd by Minneapolis Police Department officer Derek Chauvin. Local protests in the Minneapolis–Saint Paul metropolitan area quickly spread nationwide in more than 2,000 cities and towns, as well as over 60 countries internationally in support of the Black Lives Matter movement. There was significant police brutality against protesters and journalists. Amnesty International issued a press release calling for the police to end excessive militarized responses to the protests. The social unrest surrounding the protests resulted in reinvigorated efforts by activists and sympathetic institutions to physically relocate or remove controversial monuments and memorials across the world associated with colonialism and slavery. Outside of the U.S., monuments and symbols associated with European colonialism and the Atlantic slave trade were also vandalized or removed. Similarly, various organizations, institutions, and groups took to renaming buildings, streets, and brands due to public pressure or otherwise. By August 2020, the damage to the city’s small businesses not covered by insurance was estimated around USD 200 million. The police responded that such tactics are necessary to prevent vandalism and arson, and that police officers have been assaulted with rocks and water bottles. The handling of the demonstration, which was tolerated but not authorized by burgomaster Philippe Close despite coronavirus lockdown measures, was criticized by various politicians. Scientists and health officials denounced the various demonstrations across the country, calling them dangerous for public health, with physical distance impossible to maintain.
They also deplored the signal sent by the demonstrations to the Belgian people, who were asked to respect stringent limitations of their freedoms in order to slow the spread of the coronav virus pandemic. In Montreal, Quebec, thousands attended a protest outside the Montreal police headquarters. While the protests were largely peaceful, it eventually escalated into unrest, and police fired tear gas. Eleven arrests were made, including one for assault. In Antwerp on the same day, between 100 and 150 demonstrators were arrested after refusing to leave a public square in compliance with social distancing measures. In Paris, at the end of a large large rally, rioters destroyed street furniture and set fire to fire to construction equipment, and a large number of demonstrators attempted to block a boulevard. In Ottawa a few minor physical altercations between protesters and police occurred during a No Peace Until Justice march, a protest and march in the city center. In Toulouse, where the community feared the chaos following the chaos during the demonstration in Paris, small groups of hooded individuals were pursued by police and setting fire to trash cans. In Winnipeg, Manitoba, following a Black and Indigenous Lives Matter and Adama Traoré rally, two women were attacked with hockey sticks with police dispersed with tear gas and arrested. In Brussels, 28 police officers were injured, and protesters broke the windows of several shops, which were subsequently looted. A bucket of paint was thrown at the town hall, smashing a window and damaging the parquet floor.
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This page is based on the article Violence and controversies during the George Floyd protests published in Wikipedia (as of Jan. 11, 2021) and was automatically summarized using artificial intelligence.
