Military police prepare to deploy after ‘absolute chaos’ in Minneapolis
Gov. Tim Walz said that Minnesota was bracing for more protests Saturday and that the authorities had been overwhelmed by the demonstrations, which he said had devolved into “absolute chaos.”
The Defense Department ordered the Army to prepare active-duty military police units to deploy to Minneapolis as protests over the death of George Floyd engulfed the city for a fourth night Friday, with businesses set on fire and gunshots fired near a police precinct.
Officials said that the Army on Friday issued “prepare to deploy” orders for military police units from several bases around the country. The orders came at the behest of President Donald Trump, the officials said, as he has been seeking options from his senior national security leaders, including Defense Secretary Mark Esper, for how to deal with the chaotic protests that have ignited in dozens of cities.
They continued with new ferocity Friday night even after Derek Chauvin, the former Minneapolis police officer who was shown on a cellphone video kneeling on Floyd’s neck as he lost consciousness, was charged with third-degree murder.
Already, National Guard units have been activated in Minnesota and in other cities — standard for dealing with civil unrest within the country. But deploying military police units would be an escalation in the government response to the unfolding events, officials said. Military police units were used in 1992 during the riots in Los Angeles that followed the acquittal of four officers involved in the beating of Rodney King.
In Minneapolis, flames streamed from several businesses overnight — a gas station, a post office, a bank, a restaurant — and protesters defied an 8 p.m. curfew, milling in the streets and facing off with officers, even forcing Guard troops to retreat at one point.
The police did begin to arrest protesters shortly before midnight, when demonstrators convened on the Minneapolis Police Department’s Fifth Precinct the day after they had taken over the Third Precinct and set it on fire. Unlike Thursday, the police did not flee from the building.
Even as most demonstrators left the streets early Saturday, the fires continued to rage, leaving a trail of battered local businesses and hollowed out vehicles.
Gov. Tim Walz said that Minnesota was bracing for more protests Saturday and that the authorities had been overwhelmed by the demonstrations, which he said had devolved into “absolute chaos.” He did not rule out accepting the help of the federal military, although he called it an extreme step.
If the military police are ordered to descend on Minneapolis, the units at Fort Bragg in North Carolina and Fort Drum in New York would likely be the first to be activated, officials said. The possible activation of the units was first reported by The Associated Press.
The “prepare to deploy” move does not mean that the units will be activated, the officials said, but it is a first step toward doing so.
Fires and vandalism continue as cities struggle to end protests.
Rallies expanded far beyond Minneapolis on Friday, with protesters destroying police vehicles in Atlanta and New York, and blocking major streets in San Jose, California, and Detroit. Crowds in Milwaukee chanted, “I can’t breathe” and demonstrators in Portland, Oregon, lit a fire inside the Multnomah County Justice Center.
Hundreds of demonstrators poured into the streets near Atlanta’s Centennial Olympic Park, smashing windows and clashing with police officers. Not far away, some people climbed atop a large red CNN sign outside the media company’s headquarters and spray-painted messages on it. Others shattered windows at the College Football Hall of Fame, where people rushed in and emerged with branded fan gear.
“What are you changing by tearing up a city?” Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms said in a news conference. “You’ve lost all credibility now. This is not how we change America. This is not how we change the world.”
In New York, thousands of people attended a demonstration at the perimeter of Barclays Center in Brooklyn. Some hurled bottles and debris at police officers, who responded with pepper spray.
A burned police van was still smoking near Fort Greene Park after two Fire Department trucks pulled away. Protesters slammed its doors off their hinges, threw fireworks into the charred seats, flattened the tires and placed a sign down that read, “Black Lives Matter.”
“I’m just really tired of sitting at home and just doing nothing, basically watching this happen,” said Jason Phillips, 27, of Queens, who was at an earlier protest in Manhattan. “I need to be a part of history. I need to be a part of the change.”
Minnesota governor: ‘There’s simply more of them than us.’
Minnesota’s top officials acknowledged early Saturday that they had underestimated the destruction that protesters in Minneapolis were capable of inflicting as a newly issued curfew did little to stop people from burning buildings and turning the city’s streets into a smoky battleground.
Walz said at a news conference that the police and National Guard soldiers had been overwhelmed by protesters set on causing destruction days after George Floyd was pinned to the ground by an officer before dying.
“Quite candidly, right now, we do not have the numbers,” Walz said. “We cannot arrest people when we’re trying to hold ground because of the sheer size, the dynamics and the wanton violence that’s coming out there.”
Politicians and the police had not expected the protests to grow for a fourth night Friday. But grow they did, and law enforcement officers struggled to hold their ground, with National Guard troops retreating from angry protesters at one point.
“There’s simply more of them than us” Walz said of the protesters.
The governor vowed that more Guard troops would be deployed and that the authorities would not let the destruction continue. Even so, state officials did not show much optimism that the demonstrations would stop, and Walz did not rule out the possibility of bringing in the military.
Mayor Jacob Frey of Minneapolis, looking weary after four days of outrage in his city, pleaded with residents to go home and stop burning down the local businesses that he said were even more vital in the middle of a pandemic.
“You’re not getting back at the police officer that tragically killed George Floyd by looting a town,” Frey said. “You’re not getting back at anybody.”
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