Mon 08 June 2020:
Protests continued over George Floyd’s death for a 13th consecutive day Sunday in several US cities.
With the protests mostly peaceful, curfews in New York, Chicago and Philadelphia were lifted.
President Donald Trump also ordered the National Guard to withdraw from the nation’s capital, Washington DC.
Hundreds of members of the Evangelical Church also attended the protests in the capital.
In Minneapolis, where Floyd lost his life, Mayor Jacob Frey was booed by demonstrators after refusing to defund and dismantle the police department.
A statue of Confederate Gen. Williams Carter Wickham was toppled in Virginia on Saturday night.
Mitt Romney, a Republican senator from Utah, joined a group of Christian protesters marching toward the White House. He tweeted photos of himself in the procession, along with the simple caption, “Black Lives Matter.”
Although Romney has been a rare Republican voice of opposition to Trump, he was joined last week by Republican Senator Lisa Murkowski, who said criticism of Trump was overdue.
Trump’s tough approach to putting down protests continued to draw exceptional rebukes from top retired military officers, a group normally loath to criticize a civilian leader.
Former Joint Chiefs of Staff chairman Colin Powell joined them Sunday, saying Trump had “drifted away” from the constitution. Powell, a Republican moderate, said Trump had weakened America’s position around the world and that in November’s presidential election he would support Democrat Joe Biden.
Meanwhile, presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden will visit Floyd’s family in Houston on Monday to offer his condolences ahead of the funeral on June 9.
The University of Houston announced that it has canceled classes Monday for those who want to attend Floyd’s memorial service.
Floyd, a 46-year-old African-American, was filmed gasping for air and pleading for breath as now-fired police officer Derek Chauvin knelt on his neck for nearly nine minutes.
Floyd was killed by “asphyxiation from sustained pressure,” an independent autopsy found Monday.
His death has sparked protests across the US and the world.
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