The situation here in Santa Monica, California is very fluid. You can see police here now firing tear gas into the crowd. They are trying to push these folks back.
Earlier today, just a few blocks away, there was looting underway nearby. Police seem to have had enough. The nation erupted into scenes of chaos. violence and widespread destruction into the early morning hours. Dozens of American cities up in flames after some protests turned into riots, often followed by looting as a nation simmering with unrest unraveled.
How long can you be peaceful? when your people are dying. In Los Angeles, hours before a curfew was ordered, the city became a war zone.
After attempting to breach television studios, large groups torched police cruisers as officers fired back with rubber bullets. Before nightfall, the looting began. Department stores, jewelers and high-end apparel shops trashed by unruly mobs.
The mayor calling on the governor to dispatch the National Guard. For the first time since the Rodney King riots in 1992, strikingly similar scenes and issues of injustice, 28 years apart. We've seen this before in Los Angeles. When the violence escalates, no one wins.
After three nights of protest and violence, the state of emergency in Los Angeles, mirrored by pockets of anarchy nationwide, described as all hell breaking loose in Seattle. When police lost control of downtown, crowds destroyed, then took over their vehicles. This video capturing one man removing a high-powered police rifle before a plainclothes security guard disarmed the man, clearing the magazine.
But there was also troubling scenes caught on camera at the hands of police. This video appearing to show an officer putting his knee on the neck of someone taken into custody before another officer pulls his leg off. Shut your f***ing mouth!
A shocking scene after the death of George Floyd, why so many poured into the streets. We can't peacefully protest in the streets without getting tear gas thrown at us for what? With demonstrators out in force again today, a violent takedown in Philadelphia, where a footlocker was looted after more than a dozen officers were injured there last night.
With tear gas choking the streets of Miami, police battled protesters to keep control of their headquarters. With banks burned, highways shut down, and City Hall on fire in Nashville, there was more than a thousand arrests. In Salt Lake City, police have identified this man, who may have fired arrows into a crowd from a crossbow, before he was mobbed by a nearby group. In Tallahassee, Florida, someone drove through a protest after their pickup truck was surrounded by a crowd.. The National Guard is moving into Chicago after clashes between protesters and police.
In this city, we care for each other. This is a time for us to unite. Tonight, a nation on edge and up in smoke as many plead for peace in the wake of yet another violent night.
The cat and mouse game here in Santa Monica continues. You can see police are ready to move in on all these protesters again. The curfew starts in less than 30 minutes.
Scenes like this are playing out all across the nation as the National Guard moves in.