30th May, 2020
The governor of Minnesota, Tim Walz has appealed for calm amid protests over the killing of the African-American George Floyd, by a white policeman.
Walz said at a press conference Saturday that he would be “fully mobilizing” the National Guard as well.
He said the protests had been hijacked and they were no longer about the death of George Floyd.
Rather, they were an “attack” on civil society by people who were not from the community.
“The situation in Minnesota is no longer in any way about the murder of George Floyd.
“It is about attacking civil society, instilling fear and disrupting our great cites,” Gov. Tim Walz said in a morning press conference.
The mayors of the Twin Cities echoed the governor’s claim that a majority of protesters were from outside Minnesota but did not immediately provide details.
Floyd, a 46-year-old black man, died Monday after a white Minneapolis police officer kept his knee pressed into his neck for more than eight minutes.
Across the country, protesters took to the streets for a fourth day to express their anger of his death.
The protests reached President Trump’s White House on Friday evening.