Minneapolis burning

June 2020 \ News \ INTERNATIONAL

In May, Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey ...

In May, Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey announced a mandatory nighttime curfew following three straight nights of growing protests and violence in the biggest city in US mid-west state of Minnesota over the death of George Floyd, an unarmed black man, in police custody.

Also Mayor Melvin Carter in the next-door city of St. Paul said that he had signed an order of local emergency that would also impose a curfew. “All law enforcement, fire, and medical personnel, as well as other personnel authorized by the City of Minneapolis, City of St. Paul, the Minnesota Department of Public Safety, Minnesota State Patrol, or Minnesota National Guard, are exempt from the curfew,” Frey said. Carter said that St. Paul's curfew also makes exemptions for members of the media.

CNN JOURNALIST ARRESTED A CNN journalist was arrested live on air while covering protests in the US city of Minneapolis over the death of an unarmed black man in police custody, it was reported. Omar Jimenez was in Minneapolis reporting on a third night of violent protests against the death of 46-year-old African-American George Floyd after being detained on suspicion of trying to use a fake $20 bill at a supermarket in the city, the BBC reported. Jimenez was reporting live on an arrest happening in the area where a police station was burnt out. After the crew caught the arrest on camera, police officers started moving towards them and instructed them to move. On the video, Jimenez identifies himself as a CNN journalist and can be heard telling the officers: “We can move back to where you'd like here. We are live on the air at the moment.”

Floyd, aged 46, died shortly after Derek Chauvin, a white police officer, held him down with a knee on his neck though he repeatedly pleaded, “I can't breathe,” and “please, I can't breathe.” Chauvin was arrested and charged with three-degree murder and manslaughter amid a national outrage following Floyd's death.