The United States shocked by police violence

A portrait of George Floyd near the place where he was arrested by police before he died of suffocation in Minneapolis on May 27. JIM MONE / AP

The images are tragically familiar. The death of an African American at the hands of the police; the demonstrations of anger which turn into riot; mobilization of the National Guard. The chain of events this time is Minneapolis, Minnesota. It all started with the muscular arrest of a 46-year-old black man on May 25. The scene, filmed by a witness, is hardly sustainable. George Floyd is thrown to the ground and a policeman kneels on his neck. " I can not breathe He repeats. Neither his pleas nor those of those who attend the scene are heard. Then the body of George Floyd stops. When the emergency services intervene, the policeman, Derek Chauvin, is always perched on him.

The municipality's reaction was swift: the four police officers were immediately dismissed. The accused police officer had been the subject of eighteen complaints related to his behavior. The lack of immediate legal consequences, however, fueled the frustration of protesters for two consecutive nights. The unrest prompted state Democratic Governor Tim Walz to request the deployment of the National Guard on Thursday. "The death of Gorge Floyd must bring justice and fundamental reforms, no more deaths and destruction He implored. Protests have spread throughout the country in Los Angeles as in Chicago, Denver and Memphis.

Read also Violent protests in the United States after the death of George Floyd at the hands of the police

This bloody routine is verified by the numbers. The number of people killed by police in the United States in 2019 amounted to 1,004, according to the accounts of the Washington Post which lists only the dead by firearms. A figure higher than that recorded in 2018 (992) and which disproportionately concerns African-Americans. The tragic death of George Floyd echoes that of a young African-American, Ahmaud Arbery, chased by a former police officer and his son while he was jogging.

Protesters protest outside the building of the 3rd Minneapolis Police District after it was torched on the evening of May 28.
Protesters protest outside the building of the 3rd Minneapolis Police District after it was torched on the evening of May 28. CARLOS GONZALES / AP

The young man had been killed in February but the author of the lethal shot had pleaded the self-defense and argued for a law of the state adopted in 1863, at the height of the Civil war, which authorizes a citizen to arrest another if he witnesses an offense. Ahmaud Arbery had entered a house under construction before being chased by the two men, then intercepted. A third had filmed the scene, also hardly sustainable. The release of the video in early May forced local authorities to respond after initially covering up the affair. The three men are now in prison.

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