Rioters took to the streets in 17 states to exact violent revenge on businesses, government buildings, and even members of the media as frustration over the death of George Floyd in Minneapolis boiled over late Friday night.
Hours earlier, Officer Derek Chauvin, the man seen with his knee on Floyd’s neck in a bystander’s video, was arrested and charged with the murder.
The violence across America was set against the backdrop of a long national quarantine that has made tens of millions of Americans jobless, and a pandemic that has left more than 100,000 dead. It took approximately four days of protests for Minnesota authorities to place Chauvin under arrest, and by then, civil unrest had hit a peak in the city of Minneapolis.
On Friday, it spilled across the country.
In Atlanta, protesters set fire to a police vehicle, looted the College Football Hall of Fame, attacked the CNN Headquarters and attempted to gain entry to a mall, AJC reported. Someone also reportedly shot at an officer in a police car.
The last moments of @CNNValencia's live shot from the entrance of the CNN Center in Atlanta before he moved to another location. pic.twitter.com/B7ZlYyt6xz
— Oliver Darcy (@oliverdarcy) May 30, 2020
Glass getting broken outside the main entrance to CNN's Atlanta headquarters; protesters cheer pic.twitter.com/EToiEj5Pom
— Fernando Alfonso III (@fernalfonso) May 29, 2020
Police in Louisville, Kentucky, were forced to user pepper bullets on protesters, even appearing to deliberately target a reporter and cameraman covering the scene, according to Business Insider. The Hall of Justice was also breached and set aflame by protesters.
Kaitlin Rust, a reporter for WAVE 3 News, was sprayed with tear gas while live on the scene in Louisville.
This just happened on live tv. Wow, what a douche bag. pic.twitter.com/dQKheEcCvb
— Christopher Bishop (@ChrisBishopL1C4) May 30, 2020
Protesters in Dallas, Texas, were seen damaging police cars.