According to Fox News
More than a dozen U.S. citizens – still reeling from a grim night of violent riots – have implemented nighttime curfews in an effort to mitigate the worst of what they have seen in the days following the death of George Floyd, a black Minneapolis man who died in police custody after a white cop kneeled on his neck for more than eight minutes.
More than 1000 people were arrested Saturday night alone after peaceful demonstrations turned into violent – and in some cases deadly – riots. Meanwhile, some 5,000 National Guard members have been deployed in at least 15 states in a desperate bid to stem the mayhem, chaos, and wreckage.
Attorney General William Barr said in a statement Sunday that as the rioting spreads in cities across the country, “voices of peaceful and legitimate protests have been hijacked by violent radical elements” and that are working to “pursue their own separate, violent, and extremist agenda.”
“It is time to stop watching the violence and to confront and stop it. The continued violence and destruction of property endangers the lives and livelihoods of others, and interferes with the rights of peaceful protestors, as well as all other citizens,” Barr said.m
Barr said the violence “instigated and carried out by Antifa and other similar groups” in connection with the rioting is “domestic terrorism and will be treated accordingly.”
“It also undercuts the urgent work that needs to be done – through constructive engagement between affected communities and law enforcement leaders – to address legitimate grievances,” the attorney general said. “Preventing reconciliation and driving us apart is the goal of these radical groups, and we cannot let them succeed.”
“This was not a political protest. This was basically a bunch of thieves getting together taking advantage of a situation,” Kokozian said Sunday as he surveyed the hole in his roof caused by fire.
In New York City, the NYPD said at least 345 people were arrested and at least 47 police vehicles damaged or destroyed during the incidents on Saturday. A total of 33 police officers were also injured. In Beverly Hills, Calif., shops along the storied Rodeo Drive were looted as a crowd estimated at more than 2,000 people chanted “Eat the rich!’
In New York, a woman was charged Saturday with attempted murder after allegedly throwing a Molotov cocktail into a police squad car in Brooklyn. Cars were set ablaze in the borough, and in Manhattan’s usually peaceful Union Square, where cops squared off against protesters late into the night.
Protesters turned violent after a video circulated online showing an NYPD SUV ramming into a group of protesters in Brooklyn.
Mayor Bill de Blasio said Sunday that city police showed “tremendous restraint overall,” but he said was concerned about video showing two police cruisers lurching into a crowd of demonstrators on a Brooklyn street. He was appointing two city officials to conduct an independent review of how the protests unfolded and how they were handled by the police.