Name: George Floyd: Clashes escalate after death of US man in custody - BBC News
Uploaded: 2020-07-02T17:51:39.000Z
Duration: 8 min 41 s
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Now let's turn to the United States to the city of Minneapolis.

The city is still reeling from the death of an unarmed black man in police custody.

These were some of the scenes earlier this morning.

People were still out on the streets overnight.

Some buildings close to the demonstrations were set on fire.

Wednesday was the second night that police and protesters clashed.

More protesters threw rocks and also sprayed graffiti.

The mayor of Minneapolis spoke a few hours ago about the protests over the last two days, and the emotion written conflict over last night is the result of so much built up anger and sadness, anger and sadness that has been ingrained in our black community, not just because of five minutes of horror.

If you're feeling that sadness, that anger, it's not only understandable, it's right.

Well, let's just remind ourselves of what sparked this.

He is the man who died in police custody on Monday on This is a video of the incident that eventually resulted in his death and before we play it.

I just need to warn you that it is distressing.

You can clearly hear Mr Fluid saying that I cannot breathe now.

Floyd was being arrested following reports of using counterfeit money.

He died shortly after arriving at hospital for police officers have been fired.

The mayor of Minneapolis has called for charges to be pressed against the officer filmed holding Mr Floyd down.

But as the mayor suggested in that clip, for many of the protesters, this is just not about this one incident.

George Floyd's death has direct parallels with another instance of police brutality.

Back in 2014 on, Once again, I have to warn you that this video that we're about to play is also distressing.

This is a 43 year old Eric Garner, who died after being arrested by a white policeman in Ferguson, Missouri.

He was put in a choke hold on, just like George Floyd, he said, I can't breathe.

And just like this week's incident, Eric Garner's death sparked a wave of protests and riots.

Garner's mother was in Mia Minneapolis today, and this is what she said.

As you know, this happened to me almost six years ago, and this is just opening up old wounds, pouring salt into it.

Officers come into our neighborhoods, they debuted allies, they terrorized.

Eric Garner's mother, whose death was the driving force in the black Lives matter movement.

Let's speak to Benjamin Crump, a lawyer who is representing George Floyd's family.

Benjamin, you also represent the family of Armored are Very, the 25 year old man who was killed by a father son pair while he was joking.

In Georgia in February of this year, we're seeing once again at the death of a black man in police custody.

What is going wrong where, unfortunately, it has been open season on the killing of unarmed black men by the people who were supposed to percent and serve us that being the police and clearly with George Florida, you do think back to air gardener, but this is I can't breathe In 2020 I mean, he was in handcuffs face down, and the police officer has his knee on his neck, not for one minute, not for two minutes.

Not for six minutes, not for seven minutes, but almost eight minutes.

He's big and pleading for him to take his knee off his neck.

Even the citizens on this public sidewalks are saying you're going to kill him.

But yet the police offer him no humanity, and the last eight minutes of his life is a tragic documentation of him being killed and it is murder.

And that's why we are out raised in Minneapolis and all across America, black people in America saying How much more we can't we can't breathe.

Benjamin George Floyd was is described by his family as a gentle giant.

His family wants the police officers to be arrested immediately and hair to the full extent of the law for murdering George floored while he laid there, posing no threat to them, and it just makes no sense how you can try to justify this unjustifiably kill it and just remind us when it comes to the police officer on the three others who were present there.

What are they saying in defense of themselves?

They're trying to say that he was resisting arrest and that he posed a threat to them.

How can you pose a threat when you're in handcuffs and face down on the ground?

It makes no sense in the police report that they release the night before the video got out was full of lies because it said the heat out of a medical condition.

It did not mention anything about the police having his knee on his neck for over eight minutes.

If the image it anything about the people on the sidewalks saying, Take your neocon, you're gonna kill him.

What they did to George Floor, another unarmed black man in America who was killed by the police.

Is it when we talk about these cases, so many of these cases, of course you back.

You also represented Trevor Martin's family, who was shot dead in 2017 at just the age of 17.

Is it fair to say that there is systematic, systemic racism in the US police force?

Well, we believe this systemic racism and the United States criminal justice system.

Whether it be the police force, whether it be the court systems, we feel that they are targeting young people of color, especially black men, for the prison industrial complex.

So whether they're killing us on the street corners like with George Florid light with air Gardner Light with two mil.

Reis, 12 years are left with Michael Brown in Ferguson like with Terence Crutcher and toast Oklahoma Audie Killing us in the courtroom.

Our young people are being targeted by systematic racism.

George Floyd's family are appealing to people who have been clashing with the police.

They say they understand their anger, but it's it is important to find their voice in terms of the legal system.

What are you saying to the people who were clashing on the streets of Minneapolis, where we're saying we're talking to two people, people on the streets, but also the people of authority?

We're saying to them, We understand your pain.

God knows nobody's hurting more than George Floors, family and his Children.

But we want you to protest peacefully, uh, understanding that it is emotional into the people.

Authorities were saying that black lives matter were saying what Dr Martin Luther King said, that protests and rioting is the language of the unheard where we want to be heard.

Benjamin Crump on those powerful words will leave it there.

The lawyer representing George Floyd's family.