Protesters frustrated by the death of George Floyd have taken over the streets of Minneapolis as police and the state’s National Guard are “nowhere to be seen.”
Reporting from Minneapolis, CNN reporter Sara Snider said the protesters owned the streets while wading through what appeared to be hundreds of protesters lighting buildings ablaze in the downtown area.
“We are an hour and 12 minutes past curfew and, right now, the protesters rule the streets,” Snider said. “The National Guard, nowhere to be seen, the state police, nowhere to be seen, the local police, nowhere to be seen, the sheriff’s department, nowhere to be seen. The protesters are the ones that feel like these streets are their streets.”
On Thursday, Democratic Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz mobilized 500 of the state’s guardsmen after protesters burned down the Minneapolis Police Department’s 3rd Precinct early Friday morning. Protesters are responding to the death of 47-year-old George Floyd who died while in custody of the Minneapolis Police Department. Snider said protesters had walked 2 miles past the precinct to damage new areas of the city.
“You can see a fire going on there, those are cars that are on fire,” Snider said before a car in front of her exploded. “Of course, there’s an explosion because there is gas and there are all kinds of things inside of these cars.”
In Atlanta, protesters attempted to breach the CNN headquarters and were met with heavy resistance from police.
