Violence continues on U.S. Streets, and Trump blames the Left-wing extremists
Racial violence persisted on Sunday in major U.S. capitals as President Donald Trump blamed the riots on the extreme left, epitomizing the anti-fa movement.
The protests, which usually begin with a peaceful atmosphere, then lead to incidents with the security forces, despite the declaration of a curfew in at least 40 cities in the country and the activation of the National Guard in 15 states and in the capital city of Washington.
The reason for the protests, which are affecting dozens of cities across the country, is the death of African-American George Floyd in Minneapolis after a white policeman immobilized him, already handcuffed, with his knee in his neck for several minutes, despite his pleas that he could not breathe.
In Washington, one of the most virulent events of the night began in front of the White House, where protesters lit fires that led to fires and clashes with police in nearby areas.
The D.C. Fire Department reported fires in the basement of St. John's Episcopal Church via Twitter, as well as at a facility in Lafayette Square (the square in front of the presidential palace) and at the AFL-CIO headquarters, the largest union platform in the country.
As in other cities in recent days, after an attack on a patrol car on 14th Street, police threw rubber balls and charged against the crowd, including several journalists, among them an EFE/EPA cameraman.
Local media reported that in the face of violent protests in the same place, the Secret Service, which is in charge of the president's security, protected Trump last Friday in the White House underground bunker.
According to CNN, Trump was in the bunker nearly an hour before returning to the area of the White House that serves as his residence, and it is unclear whether his wife, Melania, and son Barron accompanied him.
It turns out that on Saturday Trump referred to these riots in a tweet and attributed them to "totally professional" rioters, as he often refers to Antifa members.
"The United States of America will designate Antifa as a terrorist organization," Trump tweeted this Sunday as thousands of people were already preparing to protest again the death of African-American Floyd last Monday in Minneapolis, Minnesota, when he was being detained by the police.
Attorney General William Barr also said in a statement that he will order the FBI Joint Task Force to identify "radical groups and outside agitators" who are using these protests to "follow their own agenda".
"The violence instigated and carried out by Anti-Fa and other similar groups in connection with the riots is domestic terrorism and will be treated accordingly," Barr warned.
The U.S. anti-fascist movement, known as Antifa, is a small but noisy radical group that, after Trump's arrival at the White House, has become increasingly active, especially in countering demonstrations by white supremacists.
Democratic lawmaker Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez wondered why the FBI doesn't treat white supremacists, groups that are sympathetic to Trump, as internal terrorism groups as well.
The American Civil Liberties Union also criticized Trump's announcement, saying that “There is no legal authority to designate an internal (terrorist) group”.
The U.S. government has a list of international organizations and countries that it considers to be terrorists, but there is no internal terrorism statute.
In Los Angeles, a city that moved up its curfew to avoid incidents, while marches were held to protest Floyd's death, organized groups were driving around starting looting after breaking business windows.
As Efe found out, the violent actions happened at the same time that hundreds of demonstrators were peacefully protesting in nearby streets, with minutes of silence in honor of Floyd.
In the case of Los Angeles, the tense situation is reminiscent of the violent riots that in 1992 resulted in more than 50 deaths and 2,000 injured, after another notorious case of police brutality against an African-American citizen.
In Minneapolis, where these protests originated, security forces arrested about 150 demonstrators on Sunday who defied a curfew on the first non-violent night since the race riot broke out.
Unlike Saturday, when police and military used force to disperse the protests, Sunday's strategy was to completely surround the group, which simply gave up when it found no way out.
