2020 George Floyd Protests

Overview

The 2020 George Floyd Protests, refers to the riots that occurred across the United States which were sparked by the death of George Floyd, who died after a police officer pinned him to the ground with his knee. The resulting unrest in the area included widespread looting and property damage, with numerous stores becoming the target of looting and arson.

Background

Death of George Floyd

On May 25th, 2020, Minneapolis Police Department officers attempted to arrest George Floyd, a 46-year-old African American man, in Powderhorn neighborhood of Minneapolis, Minnesota. During the arrest, officer Derek Chauvin knelt on Floyd's neck for at least seven minutes, pressing him against the ground, while Floyd repeatedly said "I can't breathe" before becoming unresponsive. Floyd was then pronounced dead at the hospital.

On the following day, several videos of the scene recorded by bystanders went viral online. A recording posted by Facebook^[1] user Darnella Frazier received over 1.4 million views, 28,000 reactions and 47,000 shares in four days (screenshot shown below).

Start of the Protests

The protests in Minneapolis started on May 26th, the day following George Lloyd's death. On that day, demonstrators gathered at the Third Precinct in Minneapolis, with some of the demonstrators vandalizing the precinct with spray paint, throwing rocks at police squad cars and smashing the glass door of the precinct.^[2] A chemical irritant was used by police to disperse the protestors.^[3]

Developments

On Wednesday, May 27th, police used rubber bullets and chemical irritants against the protestors.^[4] That day, a fire was set to an AutoZone location near the Third Precinct building and to a Cub Foods store crowd of at least 100 people looted a Target store, stealing televisions, clothes and groceries.^[5] Videos of the looting emerged online, with a video of a Minnesota resident attempting to block the entrance to the store and stab the looters going viral as Target Jennifer.

Elderly Resident tried to stop the rioters from looting Target in Minnesota pic.twitter.com/YSWjsW5VZI

— ⏰0HOUR⏰ (@___0HOUR1) May 28, 2020

The riots escalated further on Thursday May 28th, with multiple looting, arson and property damage incidents reported across the Twin Cities area.^[6] The looters and arsonists targeted supermarkets and fast-food restaurants, with Wendy's^[7] and McDonald's^[8] restaurants being set to fire. Multiple recordings of the unrest emerged on social media such as Twitter, Instagram, TikTok and iFunny, including livestreams of illegal activities being committed (example videos shown below).

On May 28th, a state of emergency was declared in the city by the mayor Jacob Frey, with 500 Minnesota National Guard being deployed to the Twin Cities area.^[9]

On May 29th, a curfew was imposed for the cities of Minneapolis and Saint Paul.^[17] On the same day, ex-officer Derek Chauvin was charged with third-degree murder and second-degree manslaughter.^[18]

Spread to Other Cities

Starting on May 28th, protests and riots spread to a number of other US cities. On May 28th in California, hundreds of protestors blocked a Los Angeles freeway and shattered windows of police cruisers. In Memphis, protesters gather outside of a police precinct, with the police responding by blocking the main city street.^[10]

On weekend May 30th and 31st, the riots erupted in a number of US cities, including New York, Chicago, Atlanta, Pittsburgh, Seattle, Cleveland and other areas. Lootings, arson, assault and other illegal activities were reported. As of May 30th, 2020, a total of 25 cities across 16 states imposed curfews.^[19] National Guard was activated in nearly a dozen states, including California, Georgia, Minnesota, Missouri, Nevada and Washington.^[20] As of June 1st, 2020, 11 deaths liked to the demonstrations were recorded,^[21] including shootings and driving fatalities.

CNN Reporter Arrest

On May 29th, CNN correspondent Omar Jimenez was arrested during a live television report in the early hours of the morning. The clip of Jimenez being arrested received a significant spread online (shown below), with viral reposts on Twitter,^[12] Reddit^[13] and other online platforms. The reporter was released on the same day.^[14]

Minnesota police arrest CNN reporter and camera crew as they report from protests in Minneapolis https://t.co/oZdqBti776 pic.twitter.com/3QbeTjD5ed

— CNN (@CNN) May 29, 2020

Officer Jacob Pederson Rumor

On May 27th, a recording of a man wearing a gas mask and holding an umbrella smashing the windows of the AutoZone location near the Third Precinct building was uploaded to YouTube and subsequently removed (reupload shown below). The smashing of the windows was the first known act of illegal activity during the riots and is assumed to be their starting point.

In the recording, the man smashes the windows with a hammer and attempts to leave the scene when he is approached by a protester, who questions him. Another person then asks if the perpetrator was a police officer.

On May 28th, Twitter^[15] user @GypsyEyedBeauty made a post in which she surmised that Officer Jacob Pederson of the St. Paul Police Department was the culprit, attaching screenshots of a conversation with the officer's ex-wife as proof. On the same day, Saint Paul Police Department tweeted^[16] that they investigated the allegation and that Pederson was not the man in the video.

Police Kneelings

On June 1st, 2020, white parishioners at the Cuney Homes in the Third Ward in Houston, Texas, kneeled in front of a group of black parishioners, praying for forgiveness for "years and years of systematic racism" (video shown below).^[22]

Starting on June 1st, 2020, a number of occasions where US police officers kneeled to show solidarity with the protesters were recorded and reported by media.^[23][24] For example, a May 31st video of police officers kneeling before the protesters in Portland received over 155,000 views in one day (shown below, left).

Online Reactions

The protests became a viral subject of discussions and posts online, with posts about the events appearing on all major social media platforms (meme examples shown below). Memes imagining supermarket and fast-food industry employees working normally during the riots gained particular popularity.

Donald Trump's "When The Looting Starts, The Shooting Starts" Tweet

On May 29th, 2020, Donald Trump tweeted^[10] that he was intending to the National Guard to the city unless the mayor of Minneapolis Jacob Frey manages to quell the riots. He followed up the tweet with another post^[11] saying, "….These THUGS are dishonoring the memory of George Floyd, and I won’t let that happen. Just spoke to Governor Tim Walz and told him that the Military is with him all the way. Any difficulty and we will assume control but, when the looting starts, the shooting starts. Thank you!" (shown below). The tweet was then flagged by Twitter for glorifying violence, preventing users from liking or sharing it.

Related Memes

Roof Koreans

Roof Koreans is a slang term referring to Korean-American business owners who defended their storefronts during the 1992 Los Angeles riots. Images of the shopkeepers standing on rooftops wielding firearms were widely publicized in news media, earning them a reputation for being bold and courageous. During the 2020 Minneapolis protests, the meme was an uptick in references online due to armed small business owners coming to protect their property during the riots.

Jake Paul Looting

Jake Paul Looting refers to a viral video of YouTuber Jake Paul in a Scottsdale, Arizona mall during the late May 2020 protests against police brutality due to the death of George Floyd. The videos, first published to Instagram show Paul taking a bottle of Vodka from a looter outside a P.F. Chang's and inside a mall trespassing while others break into individual businesses. The video led to outrage against Paul on Twitter and Reddit causing him to release the statement denying being apart of any looting or illegal activity.

Search Interest

External References