After the death of George Floyd on May 25, protests and unrest have rocked Minneapolis and other cities.
In cities across the United States, tens of thousands of people swarmed the streets over the weekend and on Monday to express their outrage and sorrow during the day. That descended into nights of unrest with reports of shootings, looting and vandalism in some cities.
In New York City on Monday, a curfew put in place by Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo did nothing to stop protesters and looters, who made their way into the Macy’s flagship store in Herald Square. In Dallas, protesters were arrested and charged with obstructing a highway by marching on the Margaret Hunt Hill Bridge.
The police chief in Louisville, Ky., was fired after a restaurant owner was killed when police officers and National Guard troops shot toward protesters. And in Austin, Texas, the police chief said that a black protester who had been shot in the head by officers was in critical condition.
Police officers were also attacked in some cities across the country. Officers were shot and wounded in St. Louis and Las Vegas, and officers were injured as they were struck by cars in New York City and Buffalo.
Since the death of Mr. Floyd, protests have erupted in at least 140 cities across the United States, and the National Guard has been activated in at least 21 states.
Here’s a timeline of the protests across the nation so far.
May 25
George Floyd dies in police custody.
George Floyd, a 46-year-old African-American man, died in Minneapolis on Monday after being handcuffed and pinned to the ground by Derek Chauvin, a white police officer. Bystanders captured video of the officer behind a police car using his knee to pin Mr. Floyd by his neck. Mr. Floyd is heard repeatedly saying, “I can’t breathe,” in the video.
The next day, the video was widely shared on social media and ultimately became a driving force for protests in Minneapolis.
May 26
Protests in Minneapolis begin, and the police use tear gas to break them up.
By Tuesday, the Minneapolis police chief, Medaria Arradondo, had fired all four men involved in the arrest of Mr. Floyd. He also called for an F.B.I. investigation after the video showed that the official police account of the arrest had borne little resemblance to what actually occurred.
That night, hundreds of protesters flooded into the Minneapolis streets. Some demonstrators vandalized police vehicles with graffiti and targeted the precinct house where the four officers had been assigned, said John Elder, a police spokesman.
Protests also occurred in the city in the subsequent days. Officers used tear gas and fired rubber bullets into crowds. Some businesses, including restaurants and an auto-parts store, were set on fire. Videos shared on social media captured people taking items out of stores that had been damaged.
May 27
Protests erupt in cities across the U.S., including Memphis and Los Angeles.
Demonstrators in other cities began organizing. In Memphis, a protest over the deaths of Mr. Floyd, Breonna Taylor in Louisville, Ky., and Ahmaud Arbery in Brunswick, Ga., led the police to temporarily shut down a portion of a street.
In Los Angeles, hundreds of protesters converged in the city’s downtown area to march around the Civic Center. A group of demonstrators broke off from the march and blocked the Route 101 freeway.
May 28
The National Guard is mobilized in Minnesota.
Gov. Tim Walz of Minnesota activated the National Guard on Thursday. The order came as the city asked for help after vandalism and fires broke out during demonstrations and as the Justice Department said a federal investigation into Mr. Floyd’s death was a top priority.
Mr. Walz later said that he had activated thousands of additional National Guard troops to send to Minneapolis but had declined the Army’s offer to deploy military police units.
“Let’s be very clear,” Mr. Walz said. “The situation in Minneapolis, is no longer, in any way, about the murder of George Floyd. It is about attacking civil society, instilling fear and disrupting our great cities.”
May 29
Former officer is arrested and charged in Mr. Floyd’s death.
The former Minneapolis police officer who pinned Mr. Floyd’s neck to the ground with his knee was arrested and was charged with third-degree murder and second-degree manslaughter.
The former officer, Derek Chauvin, 44, faces charges that carry a combined maximum 35-year sentence. “The defendant had his knee on Mr. Floyd’s neck for 8 minutes and 46 seconds in total,” a court document said. “Two minutes and 53 seconds of this was after Mr. Floyd was nonresponsive.”
May 29
President Trump’s ‘looting’ and ‘shooting’ message raises tensions.
President Trump delivered an ultimatum to Minneapolis protesters on Friday and suggested that the military could use armed force to suppress riots. On Twitter, Mr. Trump called the protesters “thugs” and said, “When the looting starts, the shooting starts.”
He also criticized the city’s Democratic mayor.
“I can’t stand back & watch this happen to a great American City,” Mr. Trump said. “A total lack of leadership. Either the very weak Radical Left Mayor, Jacob Frey, get his act together and bring the City under control, or I will send in the National Guard & get the job done right.”
May 29
Protests in Atlanta and New York bring destruction.
In the nights that followed, more protests erupted across the country.
On Friday, hundreds of demonstrators poured into the streets near Atlanta’s Centennial Olympic Park, leaving behind smashed windows. Some climbed atop a large red CNN sign outside the media company’s headquarters and spray-painted messages on it.
That night, protesters also clashed with the police across Brooklyn and Lower Manhattan, leaving officers and demonstrators injured. Thousands marched in the demonstrations before splitting into smaller violent protests. Some people threw bottles and debris at officers, who responded with pepper spray and arrests.
In Washington, a crowd gathered outside the White House, prompting the Secret Service to temporarily lock down the building. In Detroit, a 19-year-old man was killed when someone opened fire into a crowd of demonstrators, the police said. Mr. Trump moved to the underground bunker used in the past during terrorist attacks.
May 30
Mayor says peaceful protests have turned to ‘domestic terrorism.’
After four nights of chaos in Minneapolis, Mr. Frey called on people to stay home. “What started as largely peaceful protests for George Floyd have turned to outright looting and domestic terrorism in our region,” he said on Twitter.
He said people who broke the 8 p.m. curfew would be helping those who use crowds to prey on Minneapolis.
“We are now confronting white supremacists, members of organized crime, out-of-state instigators, and possibly even foreign actors to destroy and destabilize our city and our region,” he said.
May 31
Protests fill city streets again, and mayors order curfews.
During the day, hundreds of thousands of people joined largely peaceful demonstrations throughout the country, but cities reported hundreds of arrests as protesters clashed with the police and some areas were looted. The National Guard was deployed in more than two dozen states to assist overwhelmed police departments, and dozens of mayors extended curfews.
In Philadelphia, a huge peaceful demonstration outside the city’s art museum contrasted with the scene in West Philadelphia, where the police used pepper spray to repel looters. In Atlanta, two officers were fired for “excessive use of force” against two college students. In Minneapolis, about 200 protesters were arrested, and a man who drove a tanker truck toward a crowd was taken into police custody.
In California, there were widespread reports of looting in Santa Monica and Long Beach, and in Manhattan, the owners of many upscale stores found that thieves had found their way inside.
May 31
At least six people were killed in violence connected to the protests.
In Indianapolis, a person was killed and three others injured after shots were fired at demonstrators. In St. Louis early on Saturday, a man was killed after protesters blocked Interstate 44, set fires and tried to loot a FedEx truck.
In Chicago, six people were shot and one was killed Saturday night.
“Is that how we bring social justice, how we seek change?” Mayor Lightfoot said at a news conference on Sunday. “No, it certainly is not.”
The authorities were investigating the fatal shooting of a federal officer, a contract security guard for the Department of Homeland Security, outside a federal courthouse in Oakland, Calif., on Friday night. Ken Cuccinelli, the Department of Homeland Security’s acting deputy secretary, called the shooting an act of “domestic terrorism,” but the state’s governor cautioned against connecting the shooting with the protests.
In Detroit, a 21-year-old man was fatally shot as he sat in a car when protesters took to the streets on Friday.
And in Kentucky, Gov. Andy Beshear instructed the State Police to investigate the death of a who was man shot and killed after shots broke out around midnight Sunday.
June 1
Mr. Floyd’s brother visits the site where he died.
Terrence Floyd was the first member of Mr. Floyd’s family to visit the place where his brother died in Minneapolis. He told the crowd that gathered around him that he was troubled by what he had seen in recent days. “If I’m not over here wilding out, if I’m not over here blowing up stuff, if I’m not over here messing up my community, then what are y’all doing? What are y’all doing?” he said. “Do this peacefully, please.”
June 1
Two autopsies rule Mr. Floyd’s death a homicide.
The results from two autopsies completed on Mr. Floyd ruled that his death was a homicide. But the autopsies, one completed by a government agency and the other by doctors working for Mr. Floyd’s family, differed over the specific causes of death and whether there were contributing factors beyond Mr. Chauvin kneeling on his neck.
According to the Hennepin County Medical Examiner’s office, Mr. Floyd died of “cardiopulmonary arrest complicating law enforcement subdual, restraint, and neck compression.” The office also said that Mr. Floyd suffered from heart disease, was high on fentanyl and had recently used methamphetamines.
The other autopsy, conducted by doctors hired by the Floyd family, said Mr. Floyd died not only because the officer pressed his knee on his neck, but also because the other officers helped hold him down. That autopsy also concluded that Mr. Floyd “had no underlying medical problem that caused or contributed to his death.”
June 1
Trump threatens to deploy the military.
In remarks about the unrest in several cities across the United States, Mr. Trump threatened to deploy the military to states where governors and mayors could not bring violence and the looting under control.
“If a city or a state refuses to take the actions that are necessary to defend the life and property of their residents,” Mr. Trump said, “then I will deploy the United States military and quickly solve the problem for them.”