George Floyd protests: Historical figures reassessed after George Floyd’s death

Protests against racism and police violence continue nationwide, fueled by outrage over the death of George Floyd, an unarmed black man who was killed last month while in the custody of Minneapolis police.

Authorities have arrested four Minneapolis police officers – Derek Chauvin, Thomas Lane, J.A. Kueng and Tou Thao – in connection with his death. The officers have since been fired.

Floyd, 46, died on Memorial Day after police were called to investigate a report of a man trying to use what looked like a counterfeit $20. Video of his death caught by bystanders and shared on social media showed Chauvin holding his knee to Floyd’s neck for nearly nine minutes as Floyd pleaded for air.

Live updates for Thursday, June 11, continue below:

Historical figures reassessed after George Floyd’s death

Update 11:45 p.m. EDT June 11: The rapidly unfolding movement to pull down Confederate monuments around the U.S. in the wake of George Floyd’s death has extended to statues of slave traders, imperialists, conquerors and explorers around the world, including Christopher Columbus, Cecil Rhodes and Belgium’s King Leopold II.

Protests and, in some cases, acts of vandalism have taken place in such cities as Boston; New York; Paris; Brussels; and Oxford, England, in an intense re-examination of racial injustices over the centuries. Scholars are divided over whether the campaign amounts to erasing history or updating it.

At the University of Oxford, protesters have stepped up their longtime push to remove a statue of Rhodes, the Victorian imperialist who served as prime minister of the Cape Colony in southern Africa. He made a fortune from gold and diamonds on the backs of miners who labored in brutal conditions.

Oxford’s vice chancellor Louise Richardson, in an interview with the BBC, balked at the idea.

“We need to confront our past,” she said. “My own view on this is that hiding our history is not the route to enlightenment.”

Near Santa Fe, New Mexico, activists are calling for the removal of a statue of Don Juan de Oñate, a 16th-century Spanish conquistador revered as a Hispanic founding father and reviled for brutality against Native Americans, including an order to cut off the feet of two dozen people. Vandals sawed off the statue’s right foot in the 1990s.

In Bristol, England, demonstrators over the weekend toppled a statue of 17th-century slave trader Edward Colston and threw it in the harbor. City authorities said it will be put in a museum.

Across Belgium, statues of Leopold II have been defaced in half a dozen cities because of the king’s brutal rule over the Congo, where more than a century ago he forced multitudes into slavery to extract rubber, ivory and other resources for his own profit. Experts say he left as many as 10 million dead.

“The Germans would not get it into their head to erect statues of Hitler and cheer them,” said Mireille-Tsheusi Robert, an activist in Congo who wants Leopold statues removed from Belgian cities. “For us, Leopold has committed a genocide.”

In the U.S., Floyd’s death May 25 under the knee of a white Minneapolis police officer has led to an all-out effort to remove symbols of the Confederacy and slavery.

The Navy, the Marines and NASCAR have embraced bans on the display of the Confederate flag, and statues of rebel heroes across the South have been vandalized or taken down, either by protesters or local authorities.

On Wednesday night, protesters pulled down a century-old statue of Confederate President Jefferson Davis in Richmond, Virginia, the former capital of the Confederacy. The 8-foot (2.4-meter) bronze figure had already been targeted for removal by city leaders, but the crowd took matters into its own hands. No immediate arrests were made.

It stood a few blocks away from a towering, 61-foot-high equestrian statue of Gen. Robert E. Lee, the most revered of all Confederate leaders. Democratic Gov. Ralph Northam last week ordered its removal, but a judge blocked such action for now.

The spokesman for the Virginia division of the Sons of Confederate Veterans, B. Frank Earnest, condemned the toppling of “public works of art” and likened losing the Confederate statues to losing a family member.

Richmond Mayor Levar Stoney, who has proposed dismantling all Confederate statues in the city, asked protesters not to take matters into their own hands for their own safety. But he indicated the Davis statue is gone for good.

“He never deserved to be up on that pedestal,” Stoney said, calling Davis a “racist & traitor.”

Elsewhere around the South, authorities in Alabama got rid of a massive obelisk in Birmingham and a bronze likeness of a Confederate naval officer in Mobile. In Virginia, a slave auction block was removed in Fredericksburg, and protesters in Portsmouth knocked the heads off the statues of four Confederates.

The monument is believed to be located where a slave whipping post once stood, and removing it is a small step in the right direction, Portsmouth activist and organizer Rocky Hines said.

“It’s not a history that we as a nation should necessarily be proud of. For us, the history is a lot of history of slavery and hatred,” he said. “It’s bothered people for a long time.”

In Washington, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said it is time to remove statues of Confederate figures from the U.S. Capitol and take their names off military bases such as Fort Bragg, Fort Benning and Fort Hood.

President Donald Trump on Wednesday rejected the idea of renaming bases. But Republicans in the Senate, at risk of losing their majority in the November elections, aren’t with Trump on this. A GOP-led Senate panel on Thursday approved a plan to take Confederate names off military installations.

Supporters of Confederate monuments have argued that they are important reminders of history; opponents contend they glorify those who went to war against the U.S. to preserve slavery.

The Davis monument and many others across the South were erected decades after the Civil War during the Jim Crow era, when states imposed tough new segregation laws, and during the Lost Cause movement, in which historians and others sought to recast the South’s rebellion as a noble undertaking, fought to defend not slavery but states’ rights.

For protesters mobilized by Floyd’s death, the targets have ranged far beyond the Confederacy. Statues of Columbus have been toppled or vandalized in cities such as Miami; Richmond; St. Paul, Minnesota; and Boston, where one was decapitated. Protesters have accused the Italian explorer of genocide and exploitation of native peoples.

New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo, who is Italian American, said he opposes removal of a statue of Columbus in Manhattan’s Columbus Circle.

“I understand the feelings about Christopher Columbus and some of his acts, which nobody would support,” he said. “But the statue has come to represent and signify appreciation for the Italian American contribution to New York. So for that reason I support it.”

Historians have differing views of the campaigns.

“How far is too far, in scrubbing away a history so that we won’t remember it wrong – or, indeed, have occasion to remember it at all?” asked Mark Summers, a University of Kentucky professor. “I’ve always felt that honor to the past shouldn’t be done by having fewer monuments and memorials, but more.”

Scott Sandage, a historian at Carnegie Mellon University, noted that Americans have a long tradition of arguing over monuments and memorials. He recalled the bitter debate over the now-beloved Vietnam Veterans’ Memorial in Washington when the design was unveiled.

“Removing a memorial doesn’t erase history. It makes new history,” Sandage said. “And that’s always happening, no matter whether statues go up, come down, or not.”

Guard troops amid protests cost nearly $25M in California

Update 9:45 p.m. EDT June 11: It cost nearly $25 million for California to deploy 8,000 National Guard soldiers throughout the state to assist police during protests over racial injustice inspired by the death of George Floyd in Minnesota.

Most of that money — more than $18 million — was spent in Los Angeles County, where the guard deployed 5,500 troops to protect buildings and other infrastructure. The rest of the money was spent to deploy soldiers in other cities, including San Francisco and Sacramento.

Because Gov. Gavin Newsom declared a state of emergency in Los Angeles County, the state can pay for the $18 million spent there by taking money from an account set aside specifically for disaster response. On Thursday, the Department of Finance sent a letter to state lawmakers saying the deployment was necessary “to mitigate civil unrest in Los Angeles City and County.”

The California Military Department has asked for the rest of the money be covered as an “emergency expense,” defined as money spent “in response to conditions of disaster or extreme peril that threaten the immediate health or safety of persons or property in the state.”

“That is a gross waste of money that could be going to schools, to mental health, to testing and health care or people,” said Cat Brooks, co-founder of the Anti Police-Terror Project. “It’s egregious that that was the choice that was made.”

A memo from Col. Craig Sandman with the California Army National Guard said the California Military Department will run out of money if the state doesn’t step in.

“In extraordinary times that are becoming more commonplace, the CMD provides support to other state agencies and/or local authorities as they address wildfires, earthquakes, floods, and most recently, civil disturbances,” he said. “In all of these dire events, the CMD has to spend its limited operating cash to accomplish its assigned missions.”

Tour recognizes racial injustice with moment of silence

Update 8:55 p.m. EDT June 11: Colonial already was quiet with no spectators around for the return of the PGA Tour on Thursday. And then at 8:46 a.m., it came to a standstill.

Commissioner Jay Monahan stood on the first tee for the 8:46 a.m. starting time that was listed on the tee sheet without any player names. The tour left that time open as a tribute to George Floyd, whose killing by a white police officer in Minneapolis sparked worldwide outrage and protest over social and racial injustice.

The time reflects how long — 8 minutes, 46 seconds — authorities say the officer held his knee to the back of Floyd’s neck. The handcuffed black man died after pleading for air.

“As the PGA Tour commits to amplifying voices and efforts to end systemic issues of racial and social injustices, we have reserved the 8:46 tee time to pause for a moment of silence, prayer and reflection,” Monahan said.

That was followed by three short blasts of the horn as players stopped — on the golf course, on the putting green and on the driving range. Most players removed caps and bowed their heads. Carts also stopped — the traffic provided about the only noise at the Charles Schwab Challenge.

Trump battles Pelosi, some in GOP over Confederate symbols

Update 7:45 p.m. EDT June 11: President Donald Trump is battling House Speaker Nancy Pelosi over renaming military bases that honor Confederate generals — and he’s at odds with some in his own party as well.

Pelosi swung forcefully against Trump on Thursday, saying it’s time to remove symbols honoring Confederate figures from military bases and the U.S. Capitol as the pandemic and civic unrest force a national reckoning with racial discrimination.

“These names have to go from these bases, and these statues have to go from the Capitol,“ the Democrat said at her weekly news conference. “The American people know these names have to go.”

Confederate monuments have reemerged as a national flashpoint since the death of George Floyd, a black man who died after a white Minneapolis officer pressed his knee into his neck for several minutes. Protesters decrying racism have targeted Confederate monuments in multiple cities, and some state officials are considering taking them down.

Trump says he’ll pursue police use-of-force standard

Update 6:55 p.m. EDT June 11: President Donald Trump said Thursday he would pursue an executive order to encourage police departments to meet “current professional standards for the use of force,” while slamming Democrats for broadly branding police as the problem.

He also defended his calls on governors and mayors to aggressively quell violent protests that erupted across the country after the death of George Floyd, boasting, “We’re dominating the street with compassion.”

Trump offered few details about the yet-to-be-formalized order during a discussion on race relations and policing before a friendly audience in Dallas. The call for establishing a national use-of-force standard amounted to his first concrete proposal for police reform in response to the national outcry following Floyd’s death in a violent encounter with Minneapolis police.

The president also acknowledged that law enforcement may have some “bad apples,” but he said it is unfair to broadly paint police officers as bigots.

“We have to work together to confront bigotry and prejudice wherever they appear,” Trump said. “But we’ll make no progress and heal no wounds by falsely labeling tens of millions of decent Americans as racists or bigots. We have to get everybody together. We have to be on the same path.”

The president said the nation also needs to bolster its efforts to confront its long-simmering racial relations problems by focusing on inequality, redoubling on his contention that solving economic issues is the fastest way to healing racial wounds.

He said his administration would aggressively pursue economic development in minority communities, confront health care disparities by investing “substantial sums” in minority-serving medical institutions, and improve school choice options.

Trump made the comments in the city that has faced its own strained relationship between police and African American community in recent years.

In 2016, a sniper opened fire on police during a protest in downtown Dallas. The Army veteran fatally shot four Dallas police officers and one transit officer before authorities killed him using a robot-delivered bomb.

Last year, an officer was sentenced to a decade in prison for murder in the off-duty shooting of her neighbor. Amber Guyger killed Botham Jean in his home in September 2018. She later testified that after a long shift she mistook his apartment for her own and Jean, a 28-year-old accountant, for a burglar.

Notably, Dallas’ mayor and three top law enforcement officials, all of whom are black, weren’t on hand for the roundtable discussion at the Dallas campus of Gateway Church.

Protesters add George Floyd plaque to NC Confederate statue

Update 5:55 p.m. EDT June 11: A group of protesters has added a plaque honoring George Floyd to a Confederate monument that sits on the grounds of the North Carolina state Capitol.

The group, which goes by the name “Raleigh United,” placed the gold plate over the existing inscription on the base of the 75-foot (23-meter) monument on Wednesday, news outlets reported.

The new addition covers the words “To our Confederate dead,” and reads, “In honor of George Floyd.” A message below reads, “We recognize the breakdown and the build-up that brought us together, and the change that has been put into motion.”

The action came during ongoing demonstrations calling for racial justice that were sparked by the death of Floyd, a handcuffed black man who died two weeks ago after a white Minneapolis police officer pressed his knee on his neck for more than eight minutes as he pleaded for air.

Protesters in North Carolina have joined those across the country in gathering around Confederate monuments during such demonstrations, and groups in other cities have even toppled the statues, which many say remain a symbol of racism.

In Raleigh, the monument continues to stand, but the words “Take this down” and “Black Lives Matter” had been scrawled across it ahead of the plaque being mounted this week.

Raleigh United organizer Asher Gannon told The News & Observer that the plaque serves as a “glimpse of the future.”

“We want people to drive by and have hope for change,” he said.

Lafayette Park fence coming down

Update 4:55 p.m. EDT June 11: Workers on Thursday began removing the tall black chain-link fence from the north side of Lafayette Park, allowing access to the historic protest space directly in front of the White House.

A senior member of DC Mayor Muriel Bowser’s staff tweeted video Thursday afternoon showing the fence being removed in sections. Bowser’s government has repeatedly requested the removal.

The fence was erected late at night on June 1, a few hours after U.S. Park Police and other security forces used smoke bombs, pepper pellets and officers on horseback to violently clear peaceful protesters so President Donald Trump could stage a brief photo opportunity in front of St. John’s, a historic church that had been damaged in the protests.

The fence instantly became a forum for hundreds of signs, portraits and pieces of protest art. Earlier this week volunteers began removing and preserving the artwork and signs.

The National Park Service confirmed the removal of the fencing around the park’s perimeter but said some temporary fencing would remain until damaged areas can be repaired.

Chicago police caught on camera lounging, napping in congressman’s office amid looting

Update 4:05 p.m. EDT June 11: Officials are investigating after video taken from surveillance footage at a congressman’s campaign office in Chicago showed police officers relaxing and napping as looters targeted shops nearby.

At a news conference with Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot, U.S. Rep. Bobby Rush said he got a call May 31 telling him his office had been burglarized. When he and his staff members checked surveillance footage, they found at least "eight or more police officers lounging in my office as … I assume looters were breaking in stores in the shopping center where my office is located at."

Rush said the video showed what appeared to be at least three supervisors among the officers. Some of them appeared to be napping or playing with their phones.

“They even had the unmitigated gall to go and make coffee for themselves and some popcorn -- my popcorn -- in my microwave, while looters were tearing apart businesses within their sight, within their reach,” Rush said.

Lightfoot apologized to Rush on Thursday at a news conference, saying the incident showed "profound disrespect."

"It's a personal embarrassment to me and I'm sorry that you and your staff even had to deal with this incredible indignity," she said.

She called for police to take action against the officers, some of whom she said had been tentatively identified.

Trump to resume campaign rallies with visit to Tulsa on Juneteenth

Update 2:50 p.m. EDT June 11: President Donald Trump announced Wednesday that he plans to return to campaign rallies across the country beginning with a rally on June 19 in Tulsa, Oklahoma.

“Americans are ready to get back to action and so is President Trump. The Great American Comeback is real and the rallies will be tremendous,” Trump campaign manager Brad Parscale said Monday. “You’ll again see the kind of crowds and enthusiasm that Sleepy Joe Biden can only dream of.”

The rally will take place on Juneteenth, a day commemorating the end of slavery in the U.S. Some critics are slamming Trump for choosing the date and have made note that the rally would be a few weeks after 99th anniversary of the Tulsa race massacre that ended with more than 300 people dead.

Beheaded Christopher Columbus statue removed from Boston park

Update 2:40 p.m. EDT June 11: Boston city officials on Thursday morning temporarily removed a statue of Christopher Columbus from the city’s North End two days after demonstrators beheaded it, WFXT reported.

The statue’s head was knocked off and left at its base in Christopher Columbus Park on Tuesday night. By Thursday morning, officials had moved the statue to a storage facility, according to WFXT.

“This particular statue has been subject to repeated vandalism here in Boston,” Walsh said. "And given the conversations we’re certainly having right now in our city of Boston and throughout the country, we’re also going to take time to assess the historic meaning of the statue.”

>> Read more on Boston25News.com

Lawyer of 75-year-old protester shoved by police says his brain is injured

Update 2:25 p.m. EDT June 11: The lawyer for Martin Gugino, the 75-year-old protester who was seen on video bleeding from his ears after being shoved by a police officer in Buffalo, New York, suffered a brain injury in the fall, according to a statement released Thursday by his attorney.

In the statement, obtained by CNN, attorney Kelly Zarcone said Gugino continues to recover after the June 4 situation in Buffalo. Video of the incident shared on social media showed Gugino approaching police before an officer pushed him, causing him to fall and crack his head on the pavement.

“As heartbreaking as it is, his brain is injured and he is well aware of that now,” Zarcone said. “He is looking forward to healing and determining what his 'new normal’ might look like.”

Two Buffalo police officers were suspended without pay and charged last week with second-degree assault for the incident.

Miami-Dade police to stop using chokeholds

Update 1:15 p.m. EDT June 11: The head of Florida’s largest police department says his agency will stop using chokeholds.

Alfredo Ramirez, director of the Miami-Dade Police Department, says the applied carotid triangle restraint won’t be used, and the decision was based on feedback from the community and policing professionals.

He says: “As a progressive agency, we must remain in a constant state of review and open to emerging best practices and community feedback.”

Demonstrators around the U.S. have been calling for police reforms following the death of George Floyd in Minneapolis.

In 2014, Eric Garner died in New York City after being placed in a chokehold by a police officer.

House Minority Leader McCarthy says he supports banning chokeholds

Update 1:10 p.m. EDT June 11: House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy told reporters Thursday that he supports the push to ban law enforcement from using chokeholds in the aftermath of George Floyd’s death.

“The idea of someone that would have a chokehold when somebody is handcuffed ... there should be severe consequences,” McCarthy said at a news conference.

McCarthy also criticized Democrats for not collaborating with Republicans on their police reform proposal, telling reporters that they “left millions of American voices ... out of this important conversation.”

House lawmakers introduce bill to rename military installations named for Confederate leaders

Update 12:50 p.m. EDT June 11: A bipartisan bill introduced Thursday in the House of Representatives would establish a process to rename military installations that were named for Confederate leaders.

The proposed legislation, introduced by Rep. Anthony Brown, D-Md., and Rep. Don Bacon, R-Neb., comes after protesters in several cities began to tear down Confederate monuments amid demonstrations against racial inequality and police brutality.

Brown said in a statement that renaming military installations and property named for Confederate generals “will be another step in an honest accounting of our history and an expression that we continue to strive to form a more perfect union."

“As the most diverse and integrated part of American society, it is only right that our installations bear the names of military heroes who represent the best ideals of our Republic,” Bacon said Friday in a statement.

“We owe this to ourselves, to our military, our veterans, and to every American who will answer the call. Now is the time to embrace our values, ‘that all men are created equal and endowed by their creator with certain unalienable rights.”

President Donald Trump has refused calls to discuss renaming military installations, including 10 U.S. Army bases named for Confederate generals, framing the issue as disrespectful toward the military. However, top military officials have signaled their willingness to discuss renaming the bases, according to multiple reports.

Lady Antebellum dropping ‘Antebellum’ from name

Update 12 p.m. EDT June 11: Country music band Lady Antebellum announced in a social media post Thursday that they plan to drop “Antebellum” from their name.

In a statement, band members said the decision was made as demonstrations nationwide prompted conversations about race and inequality, revealing “blindspots we didn’t even know existed.” They said they strive to make their music a refuge “inclusive of all.”

“After much personal reflection, band discussion, prayer and many honest conversations with some of our closest Black friends and colleagues, we have decided to drop the word 'antebellum’ from our name and move forward as Lady A, the nickname our fans gave us almost from the start,” band members said.

"We understand that many of you may ask the question ‘Why have you not made this change until now?’ The answer is that we can make no excuse for our lateness to this realization. What we can do is acknowledge it, turn from it and take action.

Army Gen. Mark Milley on Trump photo op: ‘I should not have been there'

Update 11 a.m. EDT June 11: In a pre-recorded commencement address to National Defense University, the nation’s top military officer said he was wrong to have taken part in a photo op with President Donald Trump earlier this month.

“I should not have been there,” Milley said in the video. “My presence in that moment and in that environment created a perception of the military involved in domestic politics. As a commissioned, uniformed officer, it was a mistake that I have learned from and I sincerely hope we all can learn from.”

Milley was wearing combat fatigues when he walked with Trump and other officials to St. Johns Episcopal church near the White House after federal authorities cleared the area of peaceful protesters using tear gas and rubber bullets. Friends told The New York Times that Milley has been agonized in recent days over the impression the photo op gave that the military approved of the tactics used to clear demonstrators.

“We who wear the cloth of our nation come from the people of our nation,” Milley said in the video released Thursday. “We must hold dear the principle of an apolitical military that is so deeply rooted in the very essence of our republic.”

Senate panel adopts plan to rename military assets named for Confederate leaders

Update 10:30 a.m. EDT June 11: The Senate Armed Services Committee has adopted a plan to require the Pentagon to remove the names of Confederate generals from military bases and other assets, Roll Call reported Thursday.

The Republican-led panel voted to adopt the amendment, which had been offered by Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., during a closed-door markup Wednesday of the annual defense bill, according to the newspaper. She mentioned the amendment in a tweet published Tuesday.

“It’s long past time to end the tribute to white supremacy on our military installations,” she wrote.

The decision is likely to be criticized by President Donald Trump, who on Wednesday vowed not to change the names of military bases and urged people to “Respect the Military,” despite the fact that military officials have expressed an openness to discussing the names.

White House Press Secretary Kayleigh McEnany has said Trump will not sign legislation to rename America’s forts.

“That is an absolute nonstarter for the president,” she said, according to Politico.

Milley says he was wrong to accompany Trump on church walk

Update 9:50 a.m. EDT June 11: Army Gen. Mark Milley, the nation's top military officer, said Thursday he was wrong to have accompanied President Donald Trump on a walk to a church through Lafayette Square, where he was photographed in his combat uniform with the presidential entourage.

Milley said his presence and the photographs compromised his commitment to a military divorced from politics.

“I should not have been there,” Milley said in remarks to a National Defense University commencement ceremony.

Trump’s June 1 walk through the park to pose with a Bible at a church came after authorities used pepper spray and flash bangs to clear the park and streets of largely peaceful protesters.

Milley’s public expression of regret comes as Pentagon leaders’ relations with the White House are still tense after a disagreement last week over Trump’s threat to use federal troops to quell civil unrest triggered by the death of George Floyd.

Pennsylvania governor says he’s taking executive action on police reform

Update 9:40 a.m. EDT June 11: Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Wolf said Thursday morning in a message posted on Twitter that he plans to take executive action on police reform.

Wolf did not elaborate on what reforms he plans to make.

“We can’t go on without acknowledging that our system was built on a foundation of racism,” Wolf said. “We can do better. We must do better. Change starts now.”

2 more Atlanta police officers fired for use of excessive force on college students

Update 9:20 a.m. EDT June 11: The Atlanta Police Department has fired two more officers accused of using excessive force on two college students who were in their car during protests late last month, WSB-TV reported.

A video posted on social media and body camera footage showed officers using Tasers on Messiah Young and Taniyah Pilgrim while they sat in their car on May 30. The officers then forcefully dragged them out of the car and arrested them.

The city fired officers Mark Gardner and Ivory Streeter the next day. On Wednesday, officers Lonnie Hood and Armond Jones were also fired, WSB-TV reported, citing the International Brotherhood of Police Officers.

>> Read more on WSBTV.com

Bristol, England, officials recover statue of slave trader thrown into harbor

Update 6:21 a.m. EDT June 11: City workers in Bristol, England, have recovered a statue of Edward Colston, a 17th-century slave trader, that protesters had dumped into Bristol Harbor on Sunday.

According to The Associated Press, Bristol City Council members said the bronze statue was removed from the harbor early Thursday and is now in a “secure location.” Officials plan to put it in a museum, the news agency reported.

Read more here.

Trump to Washington governor, Seattle mayor: 'Take back your city NOW’

Update 4:27 a.m. EDT June 11: In a tweet Wednesday night, President Donald Trump told Washington Gov. Jay Inslee and Seattle Mayor Jenny Durkan to “take back your city NOW.”

Trump said the two officials were being “taunted and played," KIRO-TV reported.

The president also posted the following tweet:

Durkan responded to Trump with her own tweet, telling him, “Make us all safe. Go back to your bunker.”

Inslee added: “A man who is totally incapable of governing should stay out of Washington state’s business. ‘Stoop’ tweeting.”

The back-and-forth came after the Seattle Police Department’s East Precinct was boarded up and surrounded by protesters who established a “Capitol Hill Autonomous Zone,” which covers about six city blocks.

There are also barricades preventing the Seattle Fire Department from accessing and responding to emergencies, KIRO reported.

Some residents in the neighborhood said access to their buildings are blocked.

“It’s a bit stressful. It’s like checking in with somebody to get into your own home,” said Mckenzie Diamond, who lives in the “Autonomous Zone.” “Just making it so people can get into their buildings. Keep the zone however they want, and move the fencing so people can go home."

The Seattle Police Department removed barriers and cleared out the area Monday to de-escalate the situation.

‘Live PD’ canceled by A&E following Floyd protests, ‘Cops’ cancellation

Update 3:28 a.m. EDT June 11: One day after Paramount Network confirmed it had dropped long-running reality TV show "Cops," A&E has announced the cancellation of a similar series, "Live PD."

According to The Associated Press, the move came Wednesday as protests continued across the country over George Floyd, who died in Minneapolis police custody on Memorial Day.

In a statement, A&E said its decision to pull “Live PD,” which follows police in the field, comes at “a critical time in our nation’s history.”

"Going forward, we will determine if there is a clear pathway to tell the stories of both the community and the police officers whose role it is to serve them," the statement read, according to the AP. "And with that, we will be meeting with community and civil rights leaders as well as police departments."

The cancellation also followed reports that “Live PD” had been filming as deputies in Williamson County, Texas, used stun guns during the March 2019 arrest of Javier Ambler, who later died. A&E said it destroyed the footage, which never aired on TV, after police finished investigating the incident, USA Today reported.

"Live PD" host Dan Abrams tweeted late Wednesday that he was "shocked and beyond disappointed" that A&E was dropping the show.

"To the loyal #LivePDNation, please know I, we, did everything we could to fight for you, and for our continuing effort at transparency in policing," wrote Abrams, who had reassured fans just a day earlier that he believed the series would continue. "I was convinced the show would go on."

He later thanked "Live PD" viewers for making the series "so much more than a TV show."

“You created a huge community of kind, caring people with whom I hope to stay in touch with in this next chapter,” Abrams tweeted.

Both A&E and Paramount Network had stopped airing episodes of the reality shows before announcing the cancellations, the AP reported.

Read more here or here.

1 of 4 ex-Minneapolis police officers charged in Floyd’s death posts bail

Update 1:06 a.m. EDT June 11: One of the fired Minneapolis police officers facing charges in connection with George Floyd’s death was released from jail after he posted $750,000 bail Wednesday afternoon.

According to The Associated Press, 37-year-old Thomas Lane, who was being held in the Hennepin County Jail, was released about 4 p.m. He faces charges of aiding and abetting second-degree murder and manslaughter.

The other three officers facing charges in the case, Derek Chauvin, J.A. Kueng and Tou Thao, were still in custody, the AP reported.

Read more here.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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