CityLab Daily: George Floyd and Minneapolis’s Fraught Racial History
Also today: Europe puts its hospitals on the rails, and Trump takes credit for already-approved transit projects.
The demonstrations started out peacefully. Hundreds gathered in Minneapolis on Tuesday to demand justice for George Floyd, an African American man who died in custody after police officer Derek Chauvin pinned him to the ground with a knee to his neck. Chauvin and three other officers were fired, but protesters wanted them arrested and charged.
The protests soon escalated, as police responded with tear gas and rubber pellets in an attempt to disperse the crowd. By Wednesday, a police station and a public housing project under construction were among the buildings set ablaze by protesters, while more than 100 businesses were looted in the nearby city of St. Paul. Unrest spread to other cities including New York, Chicago, and Denver by Thursday. Meanwhile in Louisville, Kentucky, at least seven people were shot as protest erupted over the killing of Breonna Taylor, an African American ER tech who was shot in March by police officers who forcibly entered her home.