More protests, fire, looting follow calls for fired officer's arrest in George Floyd's death

[alp227]

Source: (Minneapolis) Star Tribune

Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey on Wednesday called for the arrest and charging of the now-fired police officer who knelt on the neck of George Floyd as he pleaded to breathe, video that has drawn international outrage.

“I’ve wrestled with, more than anything else over the last 36 hours, one fundamental question: Why is the man who killed George Floyd not in jail?” Frey said. “If you had done it, or I had done it, we would be behind bars right now. And I cannot come up with a good answer to that.”

Frey’s comments came on the second day of widespread protests over Floyd’s death, which occurred shortly after police detained him Monday on suspicion of trying to pass a counterfeit $20 bill.

In a series of clashes at the Third Precinct, rocks and bottles were thrown at police Wednesday, and they responded with tear gas and flash grenades. At the nearby Lake Street Target, looters made off with TVs, clothing and groceries. Protesters also gathered at the homes of Hennepin County Attorney Mike Freeman and the Oakdale home of Derek Chauvin, the ex-officer caught on video holding his knee on the dying Floyd’s neck for several minutes.

Read more: https://www.startribune.com/frey-arrest-charge-officer-who-knelt-on-floyd-s-neck-before-death/570804062/

[Archae]

1. This is no longer a "protest." It's a riot.

And the rioters are looting stores, and are burning an auto parts store.

Any support I had for them just evaporated.

[EllieBC]

2. The looters are opportunistic jerks.

They aren’t protesting anything. The actual protesters were there earlier. Burning an auto parts store and looting? That’s just opportunists showing up under cover of a protest.

[Archae]

3. I hope you're right.

All it takes is one demagogue yelling "Burn them!" to set off frayed tempers and others.

[Bengus81]

37. How many people are now out of work in that area? Probably forever

Trashing a Target and hauling off big screen TV's is really showing the Floyd family what's important.

[MarcA]

4. Thieves, Opportunists, Anti-Social Types and maybe even Agent Provocateurs. n/t

[revmclaren]

5. All the looters are doing is opening

a door for tRump to give an executive order authorizing deadly force to be used by the police against looters during a pandemic.

This could get so much worse now because of some opportunists.

[tulipsandroses]

6. People are angry - I get it. Tupac singing my way in is a perfect way to see this.

People rioted and looted after Dr. King's death. I get it. After you beg and plead and no one's listening. You feel at the end of your rope and don't give a fuck anymore. I would hope that there are leaders in the community that can help these young people channel their anger and not let it eat them alive.

[roamer65]

7. All over a stinking suspect counterfeit bill????

Even if it was, he may not have known it was counterfeit.

Sigh.

[dware]

8. For sure.

How many people can spot a counterfeit bill?

Unless someone handles money and is trained to look for it, it's not that easy to spot fake bills.

[littlemissmartypants]

9. There are special pens made to ID counterfeit bills.

This marker is a highly effective and inexpensive tool for detecting bad bills and deterring counterfeiters. You can carry it everywhere you go! Easy to use: Make a small mark on U.S. paper money. Light Mark: Bill passes test.

Available from Amazon among other vendors.

[dware]

10. Very cool,

but how many people actually carry one in their pocket?

[littlemissmartypants]

11. More than you think. ❤ nt

[dware]

13. Hmmm.

Didn't know that.
Thank you for this bit of info.

[stopdiggin]

17. and a lot less than you obviously think

[littlemissmartypants]

18. Sqweek for thyself.

[Jedi Guy]

14. Probably very few, but they're pretty common in a lot of retail stores.

When I worked in a video game store, we had them for use with large bills ($50 and up, typically). If the money markers came into play here, I'd be very curious as to why someone thought to use one on a $20 bill. I suppose it may be a standard policy at the store in question, but that's never been the case in any retail job I've held.

Gun to my head, I'd be willing to bet that the employee used the marker for the same reason they sometimes follow young black men around the store. In a word, racism. I dislike throwing that term around because it gets bandied about so much these days, but marking a $20 bill just doesn't make a lot of sense based on my experience.

[dware]

15. I do believe you're right about racism here,

I've never seen one of those pens used on a 20 dollar bill.

[Staph]

16. Not necessarily.

This old white lady has had $20 bills marked with a pen many times. Usually in a large chain store that counts on volume sales, like Target or Walmart.

I don't doubt that racism happened here. But it was the over-the-top reaction, slap handcuffs on him 'cause he's obviously a counterfeiter, that is the racism involved.

[alp227]

21. When I worked at my high school lunch line,

I was trained to use the marker on $20s. Thankfully I never encountered a fake bill!

[Amy-Strange]

20. Does it also work on old bills?

-

n/t
=============

[littlemissmartypants]

22. From Wikipedia:

The chemical properties of US banknotes prior to 1960 are such that marking pens do not work.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Counterfeit_banknote_detection_pen

[Aristus]

34. The saving grace to that is that there probably are no bills from 1960 still in circulation.

And if there are, they probably look like they've been in circulation since 1960, and are easy to spot.

[Bengus81]

38. Those still work? I thought the paper had been changed

Or counterfeiters had figured out something to put on the paper to make those useless. They did work years ago.

[murielm99]

23. When I was much younger,

I had a part-time job in a restaurant. The owner came in one day with a counterfeit bill. He showed it to some of us who worked the register. All the older ladies could tell what it was. I could not tell the difference, for the life of me. They all teased me.

I can vouch for your statement.

[Bengus81]

39. Peeps long ago used to pass them at garage sales.........

Buy some crap for $2 bucks and get $18 real ones back. Garage sale person left holding the bag. Long ago when those pens came out we used one at a garage sale at my dads. Never got one counterfeit bill over two days.

[Progressive Jones]

19. The looting is not cool. I remember the '68 riots in Chicago, after MLK was murdered.

I was a 10 year old kid, but remember it like it was last week.
The looting that went on only damaged the community's standing.
We didn't live far from the rioting. I could see flames and smoke in the sky.
There was a lot of looting and burning of businesses. My family lived just off a large intersection,
and we had 4 National Guardsmen posted there. One on each corner, with rifles and a jeep with a gun on it. .
Police were everywhere, three and four to a car, patrolling up and down every street by our house.
The rioting never reached our block, but it was close.

[Historic NY]

24. Well support is going right out the window....

the riot is going to be news for the next week. Those jobs in the stores are gone, The burned out business gone. I wouldn't reopen in these times take the loss and move on.

They have just lost the court of public opinion.

[ripcord]

43. I just don't understand the logic

Someone else was the victim of police brutality so I deserve a 50" TV. Of course I really hate thieves and will never understand the motivation of someone taking things from other people or the people who defend them.

[Crowman2009]

25. Makes me wonder if the police gave a bunch of jailed felons early parole, and told them to do this..

...in order to discredit the protesters.

[Jamastiene]

26. I think it is the case. Agent Provocateurs.

Most of the day, protesters were peaceful even when police were steadily shooting them with tear gas and later, rubber bullets. Protesters were just standing there chanting and had their arms up over their heads and were not doing anything wrong.

I watched a stream linked here yesterday. It took you to a YouTube site where they were streaming the protests.

Some of the horrible racist people in the chat over there were saying antifa would be out after dark. At the time, I didn't think too much of that comment. Then others started commenting. YouTube comments are full of racists. I noticed that really quick. The racist ones were the ones who were running their mouths about antifa. Eventually, they said antifa were coming to do the rioting and stuff after dark.

After that, I noticed most of the looting and rioting started happening once it got to be night time.

So, loose lips means protest leaders can do something about that. In the future, protest leaders could work to end protests before dark before, antifa* or whoever it is comes in with the looting, vandalism, arson, and rioting. That way they can differentiate between peaceful protesters and agent provocateurs.

Peaceful protesting is powerful. It is how Gandhi and Dr. King made such a lasting impact and made so much change eventually happen. That should be Protesting 101.

It might appear the arson, looting, and vandalism are powerful, because the images are shocking, but that stuff doesn't help anyone's cause. I really do think it is agent provocateurs trying to take away from the message of the peaceful protesters. I don't think the rioters/looters/arsonists are on the same side.

I wish there was a way to point out to the ones who damage businesses, especially smaller businesses, that the owner of the business near where George was murdered made sure the uncut footage was released from their security cams to show he was not resisting arrest. That small business did that to help try to show the truth before anyone tried to claim otherwise. I wish there was a way to make people stop and think. That business someone burns down or vandalizes might be on the right side of history, like that business owner was.

*I always thought of antifa as anti-fascism, meaning the good guys, the ones against fascism. Nothing wrong with that. As a concept, I agree and I am against fascism too, like a lot of us here are. I am just relaying what they were calling the rioters in that chat when they were explaining how things were going to go. They planned that ahead of time and knew it was going to happen. They might have been using antifa as a scapegoat or some in that movement might actually do that stuff. I don't know. I would imagine there are people in all movements who are peaceful and some who are hurting their cause with the violence.

[Paladin]

27. Glad to see the tough civil disobedience. It's exactly what is called for.

And I won't lose any sleep over the looting, either. It's just what happens when demonstrations break out in an urban setting.

If some of you have problems with my opinions of what ought to be happening in trump's nightmare America, I won't lose sleep over that, either. Way past time for playing nice.

[Devil Child]

29. I won't lose sleep over your position

Just hope you don't lose sleep or something much worse if one of these "demonstrations" breaks out in your neighborhood. Crazy times now and ahead.

[LanternWaste]

40. Say the guy who alleges a racist women getting fired is a "lynching..." and "her life is destroyed"

"'Tis so strange that... the truth of it stands off as gross as black and white..."
<W Shakespeare>

[Devil Child]

41. I'm flattered by your attention n/t

[SCantiGOP]

35. Agree with you Paladin

If I were in Minneapolis I would be in the street with them.
I ran from cops and threw bricks at police and National Guard vehicles during my college riots in May of 1970. I am not the slightest bit regretful of that civil disobedience since it helped to end the war sooner.

[Paladin]

36. It'll be a cold day in hell before I regret taking part in anti-war protests, back then.

I wish we could organize nation-wide demonstrations against trump and his crime family. History is not going to be kind to us, for putting up with all this authoritarian shit like a herd of contented sheep.

[Historic NY]

44. Looting and burning is civil disobedience?

What did we learn from Watts, St, Louis and other places. If every business owner reflected they probably shutter their doors. Considering how bad things have been, to have to start completely over it would be easier to take the tax lost and move on.

Looting is fun, you can bet a lots of the owners will just say fuck it, then who wins?


Totally burned out an Auto zone, Dollar General, Target, Wendy's burned out , dozens of other buildings,

[link:https://www.deseret.com/u-s-world/2020/5/28/21273126/george-floyd-minneapolis-los-angeles-memphis-videos-photos-minnesota-riots-2020|]

[link:https://bringmethenews.com/minnesota-news/a-list-of-the-buildings-damaged-looted-in-minneapolis-riots|]

[dware]

46. +100.

I am appalled by some of the posts here on the rioting, looting and burning of businesses, businesses that had absolutely nothing to do with the murder of G. Floyd.

Also the attacking of the firefighters that were trying to put out the fires, there were some here trying to justify it.

[Devil Child]

28. Fuck looters and rioters taking over legitimate protest

[CJustice]

30. This is America

Appalling police brutality followed by destruction and looting. I weep for this country. Police brutality MUST be dealt with but this behavior ruins every step toward that.

Now attention will be turned from peaceful protests to the violent opportunists. You know the MAGAts will tie BLM to it.

[ripcord]

31. During the L.A. riots Korean-American businessmen didn't put up with people looting their stores

[dalton99a]

32. They had zero protection from the LAPD

'They left us to burn'
https://www.cnn.com/2017/04/28/us/la-riots-korean-americans/index.html

[ripcord]

33. Fully half of the damages caused by the riots was done to Korean-American businesses

[NickB79]

42. There have been reports of armed civilians in Minneapolis

https://ca.style.yahoo.com/armed-citizens-defend-minneapolis-store-082832605.html

[sarisataka]

45. I cannot say for Minneapolis

but I saw first hand people in front of several stores in St Paul who were openly armed, generally cell phone stores.