NEW YORK | A group of several hundred peaceful protesters found themselves caught in the crossfire on Tuesday evening as they crossed the Manhattan Bridge, defying the curfew decreed in New York to stem the riots that have marked the city in the last days.
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According to local media, protesters demanding justice for African-American George Floyd, who suffocated death below the knee of a white policeman, left the Brooklyn neighborhood for Manhattan in the evening. However, the police were waiting for them in large numbers at the end of the bridge to bar their access to the island.
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The demonstrators also found themselves unable to reverse, other police taking care to deploy on the Brooklyn side after their passage.
Police were ready and equipped to make arrests, according to CNN, but at first glance, officers seemed intent on letting the protesters leave the scene without problems.
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New York State Governor Andrew Cuomo has declared a curfew in New York City in an attempt to stem the riots that have hit the city. However, acts of violence were still observed again Tuesday evening and at least forty arrests were made.
“When is Governor Cuomo going to ask for help from the federal government,” reacted US President Donald Trump on Twitter, referring to the “chaos” and “destruction” in New York.
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Curfews were ignored in several US cities on Tuesday evening. Among others, in Washington, demonstrators roamed the streets peacefully in the evening, without mayhem, while in Milwaukee, demonstrators threw stones at the police who responded with tear gas.
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