George Floyd protests: Minnesota governor orders full mobilisation of national guard – live

The Ohio governor, Mike DeWine, has joined the governors of Wisconsin and Minnesota by calling in the national guard to help oversee the protests over the death of George Floyd. DeWine said he had called in the guard to “drive out hate and violence, and to instill order.” He added: “Sadly there is a relatively small number of violent individuals who pose a specific threat and a real threat to our law enforcement officers and the safety of people in Columbus and Franklin County.”

The LA Times has spoken to black Angelenos who witnessed the riots following the police beating of Rodney King in 1992. Many of the people the newspaper interviewed do not believe the situation has improved for people of colour in the nearly 30 years since.

“I don’t feel better, and it troubles me to say that,” said Kerman Maddox, who was a reporter during the King riots. “It’s worse today than it was back then … Back then, they used to beat the crap out of us, but they didn’t kill us. Now when my 13-year-old son goes to the park, I worry … is someone going to call the cops on him?”

The Guardian spoke to King shortly before his death in 2012 about the weight he carried from the events of 1992.

New York City’s mayor, Bill de Blasio, has issued a message “particularly to white New Yorkers” about the death of George Floyd and the subsequent “raw pain” the black community has faced.

“Structural racism haunts the lives of people of color,” he said in a message posted to Twitter. “What we’re seeing is an overflow due to decades of injustices. I see my own privilege and can only understand so much. I know enough to say that for the black community every day is pervaded by racism. We will do better.”

De Blasio, whose wife is African American, has spoken in the past about his concerns for his son around law enforcement. Last year, De Blasio said he has had serious talks with his son, Dante, “including how to deal with the fact that he has to take special caution because there have been too many tragedies between our young men and our police”.

A Fox News reporter was chased by protesters during a demonstration outside the White House on Friday night. Leland Vittert told the Associated Press “we took a good thumping” from protesters. Vittert said he was not carrying any equipment that identified the organisation he worked for, but several people asked who he was a reporter for. He said one person then found his photo on his phone and told other protesters he was from Fox, which is seen as friendly to Donald Trump.

“The protesters stopped protesting whatever it was they were protesting and turned on us,” Vittert said, “and that was a very different feeling”.

Vittert said he was followed by a number of people before someone took his microphone and threw it at his back. The incident was captured by a reporter from the Daily Caller.

“It makes me proud to do my job and to be a journalist,” he said. “I’m proud to be an organization that is unyielding in our coverage. We’re going to keep on telling our story and doing exactly what we’re doing.”

The Fox News Media CEO, Suzanne Scott, said journalists should be free to do their job during a time of national crisis. “We are truly living in unprecedented and transformative times and freedom of the press is a vital element to the foundation of our society,” Scott wrote.

A disturbing echo today of the killing of Heather Heyer during the Unite The Right rally in Charlottesville in 2017. At a protest in Tallahassee, Florida, a pickup truck suddenly accelerated through an intersection filled with protesters. According to ABC27 the truck had initially stopped and was surrounded by protesters who talked to people in the truck. ABC27 then said a punch was aimed at someone in the truck before it accelerated.

A video of the incident has appeared on social media and people can be heard screaming in distress as the truck drives through the crowd.

“No one was pulled under the wheels that I saw, but people were definitely hurt,” one witness, Lucas von Hollen, told the Associated Press. “There was screeching … People were crying and screaming about how it just drove through the crowd.”

The city’s mayor, John E Dailey, said the driver had been taken into custody and no one was seriously injured.

“Earlier today an individual struck a crowd of peaceful protestors with their vehicle in downtown Tallahassee at a low rate of speed,” wrote Dailey on Twitter. “Thankfully no one was seriously injured. The driver of the vehicle was immediately taken into custody.”

The Tallahassee police department said people had the right to protest peacefully. “This is an extremely tense, emotional time across the nation. Mutual respect among all of us is vital,” the department said in a press release. “The Tallahassee police department supports the nonviolent gathering of protesters and will uphold their constitutional right to do so while making every effort to maintain a safe environment for our community.”

Iran has wasted no time into criticizing its longtime foe over the civil unrest in America.

“Some don’t think #BlackLivesMatter,” the Iranian foreign minister, Mohammad Javad Zarif, said on Twitter. “To those of us who do: it is long overdue for the entire world to wage war against racism. Time for a #WorldAgainstRacism.”

Zarif also referenced a message that the US secretary of state, Mike Pompeo, sent to Iranian street protesters in 2018, but with some of the words changed. “The US government is squandering its citizens’ resources, whether its adventurism in Asia, Africa, or Latin America…”

Iran’s foreign ministry had earlier condemned the death of George Floyd at the hands of a white police officer. “The voices of the protesters must be heard … [and] the repression of suffering Americans must be stopped immediately,” the ministry statement said.

The New York attorney general, Letitia James, has confirmed her office will investigate the clashes between police and protesters in New York City last night. Police in Brooklyn were seen shoving protesters, and one police van was set alight during Friday’s demonstrations.

“Peaceful protest is a basic civil right. That right should be protected and guarded,” said James in a statement. “We take the designation to investigate last night’s actions very seriously. We will act independently to seek answers, ensure that the truth is laid bare, and that there is accountability for any wrongdoing. We will be transparent in our findings as we seek accountability for those who did wrong.”

Meanwhile, thousands of protesters are marching in midtown Manhattan blocking traffic.

Boston’s mayor used emphatic language when hosting a prayer vigil to honour the memory of George Floyd. Marty Walsh, who hosted the vigil alongside Boston’s police commissioner, described Floyd’s death as a “murder”. Derek Chauvin, the police officer captured on video kneeling on Floyd’s neck before his death, has been charged with third-degree murder and manslaughter but has yet to face trial.

Walsh said the vigil was a chance to reflect on Floyd’s “murder”. Walsh added: “If there’s ever a moment to acknowledge injustice and recommit our nation to eradicating it, it’s right now … This is our moment in time to change as a nation.”

The capsule carrying the astronauts on the SpaceX mission has successfully separated from its rocket and is now on its way to the International Space Station. The capsules crew of Bob Behnken and Doug Hurley will now use thrusters to steer their way to the space station. The journey will take them around 19 hours.

Concern has been raised by many people that the demonstrations seen around the US could help spread Covid-19. Many protesters have been seen without masks in packed crowds. New York City mayor Bill de Blasio agreed such scenes were worrying, particularly in a city with tens of thousands of deaths from the virus.

“I would still wish that everyone would realize that when people gather it’s inherently dangerous in the context of this pandemic and I’m going to keep urging people not to use that approach and if they do they focus on social distancing and wearing face coverings,” De Blasio told journalists on Saturday.

De Blasio said he understood the anger fueling the protests “but the last thing we would want to see is members of our community harmed because the virus spread in one of these settings. It’s a very very complicated reality.”

Tony Evers is the latest state governor to call in the national guard to help police protesters. The Wisconsin governor said at least 125 members of the state’s national guard have been activated after protests escalated in Milwaukee on Friday night. A police officer suffered a minor gunshot wound in the city early on Saturday morning while near where protesters had gathered.

“It is critical that people are able to peacefully express their anger and frustration about systemic racism and injustice, in Milwaukee, the State of Wisconsin, and our Nation,” said Evers in a press release. “This limited authorization of citizen soldiers from the Wisconsin National Guard will help protect people who are exercising their First Amendment rights and ensure the safety of the public.”

The US attorney general, William Barr, has issued a statement on the civil unrest of the last few days. He started by acknowledging the anger over the death of George Floyd.

“The outrage of our national community about what happened to George Floyd in Minneapolis is real and legitimate. Accountability for his death must be addressed, and is being addressed, through the regular process of our criminal justice system, both at the state and at the federal level,” said Barr.

However, he also said that “the greatness of our nation comes from our commitment to the rule of law” before, like Donald Trump, blaming the violence and looting that has taken place in some cities on elements of the left.

“In many places, it appears the violence is planned, organized, and driven by anarchistic and far left extremists, using Antifa-like tactics, many of whom travel from out of state to promote the violence,” he said.

Neither Barr nor Trump has provided any evidence that leftwing groups are responsible for the violence.

Barr concluded by saying it was a federal crime to cross state lines to stir up riots. “In that regard, it is a federal crime to cross state lines or to use interstate facilities to incite or participate in violent rioting. We will enforce these laws,” he said.