Derek Chauvin trial US cities braced for unrest as jury reaches verdict

over 4 years in The Irish Times

The jury has reached a verdict at the murder trial of former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin in the death of George Floyd.
The verdict is to be read later on Tuesday night.
Cities across the US were braced for unrest on Tuesday ahead of a verdict in the  trial, 11 months after the killing of Mr Floyd sparked protests about racial justice across the country.
As the 12-person jury in the trial deliberated for a second day on Tuesday in Minneapolis, several cities called up support law enforcement personnel, ahead of any potential unrest.
Speaking in Washington, US president Joe Biden said he hoped for the “right verdict”, noting that he had decided to speak out on the trial because the jury had been sequestered.
“I’m praying the verdict is the right verdict. It’s overwhelming in my view,” he said.
He spoke to the family of Mr Floyd on Monday, after the closing arguments in the trial concluded and the jury began their deliberations.
Philonise Floyd, Mr Floyd’s brother who testified during the trial, said that the president had phoned the family to offer his sympathy.
“He knows how it is to lose a family member, and he knows the process of what we’re going through. So he was just letting us know that he was praying for us, hoping that everything will come out to be okay,” he said.
In Minneapolis, more than 3,000 national guard soldiers as well as local police officers and state police have been sent to the city in recent days, with many buildings boarded up in anticipation of possible violence.
In Washington DC, the site of prolonged protests after the killing of Mr Floyd last May, the secretary of the army authorised the activation of unarmed troops following a request from mayor Muriel Bowser.
On Monday, the governor of Illinois activated the national guard in response to a request from Chicago mayor Lori Lightfoot.
Chicago saw protests over the weekend, following the shooting dead of a 13-year-old boy by a police officer last month.
Nine minutes
The death of Mr Floyd last year, as Mr Chauvin pressed his knee on his neck for more than nine minutes, prompted national and international outrage about race relations and police misconduct.
Minneapolis is also reeling from the death of another African-American man at the hands of police officers on April 11th. Officer Kim Potter has been charged with second-degree manslaughter for shooting and killing Daunte Wright in the Minneapolis suburb of Brooklyn Center after he was stopped by police for a traffic violation.
Meanwhile, Republicans in Congress have called for Democrat Maxine Waters to be formally censured over remarks she made during a visit to Minnesota at the weekend.
“We’ve got to stay on the street, and we’ve got to get more active. We’ve got to get more confrontational,” the California Democrat said. “We’ve got to make sure that they know that we mean business.”
During closing arguments in the court on Monday, Judge Peter Cahill suggested that Ms Waters’s comments could be grounds for an appeal.
“I’ll give you that Congresswoman Waters may have given you something on appeal that may result in this whole trial being overturned,” he said, after defence attorney Eric Nelson raised the issue.
House speaker Nancy Pelosi defended Ms Waters’ comments, saying that she did not think she should apologise.
“Maxine talked about confrontation in the manner of the civil rights movement,” she said. – Additional reporting: AP

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