MINNEAPOLIS (Reuters) – The full Minnesota National Guard was activated for the first time since World War Two after four nights of sometimes violent protests that have spread to other U.S. cities following the killing of a black man by a white Minneapolis police officer who knelt on his neck.
Minnesota Governor Tim Walz said the deployment was needed because outsiders were using the demonstrations over the death of George Floyd to spread chaos, and that he expected Saturday night’s protests to be the fiercest so far.
From Minneapolis to New York City, Atlanta and Washington, protesters clashed with police late on Friday in a rising tide of anger over the treatment of minorities by law enforcement.
“We are under assault,” Walz told a briefing. “Order needs to be restored. … We will use our full strength of goodness and righteousness to make sure this ends.”
He said he believed a “tightly controlled” group of outside agitators, some white supremacist groups and drug cartels were to blame for some of the violence in Minneapolis, but he did not give specifics when asked by reporters. He said as many as 80% of those arrested were from out-of-state.
In an extraordinary move, the Pentagon said it put military units on a four-hour recall status to be ready if requested by Walz to support the Minnesota National Guard and law enforcement. The demonstrations broke out for a fourth night despite prosecutors announcing on Friday that the policeman filmed kneeling on Floyd’s neck, Derek Chauvin, had been arrested on third-degree murder and manslaughter charges.
Three other officers ha