June 3 George Floyd protest news

By Jessie Yeung, Steve George, Laura Smith-Spark, Peter Wilkinson, Meg Wagner, Melissa Macaya, Mike Hayes and Fernando Alfonso III, CNN

Updated 7:15 p.m. ET, June 4, 2020
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10:46 a.m. ET, June 3, 2020

Defense secretary: Officers at scene of Floyd's  death should be "held accountable for his murder"

From CNN's Michael Conte

Pool
Pool

Secretary of Defense Mark Esper called the killing of George Floyd a “horrible crime” and said the officers on the scene that day should be "held accountable for his murder."

"Let me say upfront, the killing of George Floyd by a Minneapolis policeman is a horrible crime. The officers on the scene that day should be held accountable for his murder. It is a tragedy that we have seen repeat itself too many times," Esper said while speaking during a media briefing at the Pentagon.

Esper said, “racism is real in America, and we must all do our very best to recognize it, to confront it, and to eradicate it.”

Some context: Derek Chauvin, the officer seen kneeling on Floyd's neck for nearly nine minutes, was charged on Friday with third-degree murder and second-degree manslaughter.

Still, three other officers on scene — Thomas Lane, J.A. Kueng and Tou Thao — have not been charged, despite the family's and protesters' wishes. All four were fired by Chief Medaria Arradondo last week after video of the incident sparked outrage.

WATCH SEC. ESPER:

10:29 a.m. ET, June 3, 2020

Trump claims "most religious leaders" loved his visit to St. John's Church

From CNN's Betsy Klein

President Donald Trump returns to the White House after taking photos outside St. John’s Episcopal Church on June 1.
President Donald Trump returns to the White House after taking photos outside St. John’s Episcopal Church on June 1. Patrick Semansky/AP

President Trump claimed Wednesday that his decision to visit St. John’s Episcopal Church has been widely praised by religious leaders.

The White House is facing ongoing fallout from the events of Monday evening, where peaceful protesters were dispersed with tear gas and rubber bullets before curfew so Trump could participate in a photo opportunity with a Bible outside the church, which suffered a fire during protests over the weekend. The move has been widely criticized by clergy. 

Asked his response to criticism from Rev. James Martin, a Jesuit Priest, who called it a “photo opportunity,” Trump said, “My response is simple – most religious leaders loved it.” He cited praise from political allies Franklin Graham and Robert Jeffress and cast blame on his rivals and the protesters.

“It’s only the other side that didn’t like it, you know, the opposing – the opposition party, as the expression goes. They burned down the church the day before, I heard how nice and wonderful the protesters were over there. Really? Then why did they burn down the church the day before?” he asked.

Trump also claimed he was unaware of the tactics used to clear the park ahead of his visit – even though press widely reported the explosions could be heard from his address in the Rose Garden.

“When I said go to the church, I didn’t know, protesters or not, nobody tells me that. They say, ‘Yes sir, we’ll go to the church,’” he said, claiming law enforcement in the area “didn’t use tear gas,” which is untrue, per his own CDC.

Trump said that “many religious leaders loved it�� when he held up the Bible.

 “I did hold up a Bible. I think that’s a good thing, not a bad thing,” he said.

10:40 a.m. ET, June 3, 2020

Mother of George Floyd's daughter: "The only thing that I can tell her is he couldn't breathe"

From CNN's Adrienne Vogt

Stephen Jackson, Gianna Floyd and Roxie Washington during an interview with CNN's Omar Jimenez.
Stephen Jackson, Gianna Floyd and Roxie Washington during an interview with CNN's Omar Jimenez. CNN

The mother of George Floyd’s 6-year-old daughter Gianna said she struggled to tell the little girl how her father died.  

“She was standing by the door, and she said, ‘Mama, something's going on with my family.’ And I say, ‘Why do you say that?’ She said, ‘Because I hear them saying my dad's name on TV.’ She wanted to know how he died. And the only thing that I can tell her is he couldn't breathe,” Roxie Washington told CNN’s Omar Jimenez in an interview. 

In a video shared on Instagram, Gianna sat on former NBA player and Floyd’s friend Stephen Jackson’s shoulders and said, “Daddy changed the world!” 

In the interview, Jackson, as well as attorney Chris Stewart, said Floyd moved from Houston to Minneapolis for work to provide for his family.

“We have to get convictions,” Jackson said.  

Watch more:

CORRECTION: This post has been updated to correct Roxie Washington's name.

9:51 a.m. ET, June 3, 2020

More than 200 arrested in Houston for "criminal conduct"

From CNN's Hira Humayun 

People protest in Houston on June 2.
People protest in Houston on June 2. David J. Phillip/AP

More than 200 people were arrested in Houston Tuesday night into Wednesday morning, according to a tweet from the Houston Police Department.

“Our officers have made more than 200 arrests thus far in downtown Houston today/tonight of individuals engaged in criminal conduct, including throwing rocks and bottles at officers. Many, despite orders to clear the streets, refused to do so and were taken into custody,” the tweet read.

The city's police department went on to say, “This is an extremely low number of arrests considering the thousands of people in our community who marched and demonstrated peacefully today. We're not aware of any significant property damage or injuries. We will have updated arrest numbers/info later this morning.”

Yesterday, peaceful demonstrators defied curfews and remained on the streets of American cities for another night of protests over the death of an unarmed black man in police custody.

The eighth night of protests saw less violence, fewer police clashes and more acts of civil disobedience.

9:19 a.m. ET, June 3, 2020

German government says George Floyd's death was "appalling and avoidable"

From CNN's Nadine Schmidt in Berlin

Germany's government is “shocked by the death of George Floyd” in the United States, Chancellor Angela Merkel’s spokesperson says.

During a regular government news conference, Steffen Seibert said: “The death of George Floyd (...) shocked people in Germany and all over the world, it shocked the federal government too.”

“It is an appalling and avoidable death that shakes you up. We in the federal government are following closely what is happening in America right now.” 

Seibert went on to say: “We hope that this violence ends and we hope that the many wise and humane voices that exist in America too, those who are peacefully working for improvements (...) who are striving to end racism, are being heard.”

“I am sure there is racism in Germany too,” Seibert added, saying “every society, including ours, is called upon to continually work against this.”

9:19 a.m. ET, June 3, 2020

Protesters were seen boxed in on the Manhattan Bridge last night. Here's what happened.

Demonstrators walk across New York's Manhattan Bridge from Brooklyn on June 2.
Demonstrators walk across New York's Manhattan Bridge from Brooklyn on June 2. Gabriele Holtermann/Sipa/AP

Protestors in New York City last night appeared to be briefly boxed in on the Manhattan Bridge, with police waiting on either end — but officers eventually allowed them to walk off and leave the area.

Several posts on social media indicated the protestors had been “trapped,” including a post from Alexandria Ocasio Cortez that it was “dangerous” and the she was heading to the scene.

The protesters on the bridge had splintered off from a larger group that had been demonstrating in Brooklyn earlier in the day, according to CNN correspondent Jason Carroll, who reported from the scene. The splinter group tried to make their way to Manhattan when they were stopped on the bridge.

Carroll reported that police officers around the bridge were seen waiting on both ends, some with white zip ties used to detain protesters.

Later, Carroll reported that police allowed the boxed-in protesters walk away and leave the area. The demonstrators were seen slowly walk off, back to the Brooklyn side, as police stood to the side.

"We haven't seen them make arrests or taking folks into custody, allowing those on the bridge to make their way off the bridge," Carroll said.

What the Mayor's office says: Later, the Communications Director for Mayor Bill de Blasio tweeted that only the Manhattan side of the bridge was ever closed. 

“Clarification on what unfolded here. Police presence on both sides of the bridge, but only the Manhattan side was ever blocked off,” Wiley Norvell tweeted. “After attempting to cross into Manhattan but halted by police on that side, the group ultimately dispersed back over to Brooklyn where they are now.”
12:11 p.m. ET, June 3, 2020

Top business lobbying group joins others in promising to address racial inequality

From CNN’s Cristina Alesci

The nation’s top business lobbying group, citing an unemployment rate that is twice as high for black Americans as it is for whites, says it will redouble efforts to address racial inequality.

The US Chamber of Commerce promised to address “inequality of opportunity through education, employment, entrepreneurship, and criminal justice reform.”

“The senseless death of George Floyd has called renewed attention to the inequality and injustice in America," the statement said. “As a nation, we must address this issue with a robust plan of action.”

The group named a national steering committee for the initiative that includes black business leaders.

The lobbying group promised to build on to two programs—one to help companies build diverse pipelines of talent and another is the chamber’s partnership with historically black colleges.

The chamber will hold a town hall on June 25 to address racial inequality and how corporate American can help fix it.

The groups says it represents the interests of more than 3 million businesses of "all sizes, sectors, and regions, as well as state and local chambers and industry associations."

9:41 a.m. ET, June 3, 2020

Atlanta college students recount being tased by police: "I don't want that for anyone else. This is disgusting."

From CNN's Adrienne Vogt

Taniyah Pilgrim and Messiah Young during an interview on CNN's "New Day" on June 3.
Taniyah Pilgrim and Messiah Young during an interview on CNN's "New Day" on June 3. CNN

Two college students said they were traumatized after police used tasers and dragged them from a vehicle at a protest on Saturday night.

The six Atlanta police officers are being charged with using excessive force, according to officials.

The officers were filmed in downtown Atlanta breaking windows of a vehicle, yanking a woman out of the car and tasing a man. The two victims were later identified as college students at Spelman and Morehouse, both historically black schools, and were returning from protests calling for an end to police violence against black citizens.

Taniyah Pilgrim, the Spelman College student, said she thought she might be killed in that moment. “I was thinking, OK, this is the end,” she said. 

Morehouse College student Messiah Young told CNN’s Alisyn Camerota that he has not yet watched the video of the incident. “I’m not trying to relive that moment at this point. It's a little too much right now, and I’d rather, you know, just recover, honestly,” he said.

“It’s probably one of the hardest moments that I've had to face in my life. I just can't even fathom what happened. At this point, I'm just so far gone, it's like I'm trying to remove myself from that situation, but it’s really hard to cope with,” Young said, growing emotional. 

Young’s wrist was broken, he got 20 stitches in his forearm and he said he felt lingering effects of being tasered. 

Pilgrim said the effects on her are “traumatizing.” 

“I haven't even processed the situation and everything that happened. … I don't want this to continue to happen and have more victims who are traumatized that can't sleep, can't eat. I don't want that for anyone else. This is disgusting. This isn't right,” Pilgrim said. 

“Once they approached the car, they literally swarmed the car. I just was shellshocked. I've seen the situation so many times, you know. We have George Floyd, we have so many people dying and it's just senseless. Breonna Taylor, Ahmaud Arbery, all these people are dying every day, and people are out protesting for this reason. It's still happening at these protests. We see this literally daily. And it's just not OK,” Young added.  

One of the officers wrote in a police report that he used his taser because he was unsure whether Pilgrim or Young were armed.

“As we've seen in the past, [there was an] attempt to assassinate the character of these young people to say there was a gun. There was never a gun,” said Young’s attorney Mawuli Davis. “… The culture in policing in America and in Atlanta must change and it must change immediately, or innocent people risk literally losing their lives.” 

Young said the incident really underscores the need for policing reform. 

“Change is really all that needs to come from this. There needs to be a total reset in policing,” he said. “…There needs to be a sense of trust and safeness and security dealing with law enforcement. We just need to see a total shift in the way things are done because at this point we're going to continue having these protests. We're going to continue losing black lives, brown lives.” 

Watch more:

9:19 a.m. ET, June 3, 2020

What the protests were like last night

People demonstrate at the State Capitol in St. Paul, Minnesota, on June 2.
People demonstrate at the State Capitol in St. Paul, Minnesota, on June 2. Jim Mone/AP

Protests continued last night across the United States following the death of George Floyd at the hands of a now-jailed former Minneapolis police officer.

Here's what it was like at the protests last night:

  • Mostly peaceful: Demonstrators peacefully gathered in cities across the US, but some tensions flared as the night pressed on. In Atlanta, a protest was calm, but after 9 p.m. ET police and National Guard began to sweep the streets to clear them. A CNN crew saw tear gas being used. And police in Charlotte, North Carolina, said they used chemical agents to disperse a crowd after "being assaulted with bottles, rocks, and chemical agents."
  • Thousands defied curfews: Unprecedented curfews were still in place in major US cities last night — but thousands of people peacefully defied them, demonstrating late into the night. Minneapolis, where Floyd died, New York City, Philadelphia and Washington DC, are among the cities with curfews.
  • In the nation's capital: On Monday night, people were forcibly moved from a street within view of the White House. And last night, even more protesters gathered and stayed even as the 7 p.m. ET curfew in DC passed.