https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Floyd_protests
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Floyd_protests#Alleged_extremist_involvement
Who you blame might depend on which news bubble you consume, and where your political sympathies lie.
Who else is stoking the flames? Russia is an obvious candidate, and are already running interference:
https://www.rt.com/news/490309-russia-meddling-us-riots-media/
An ongoing series of significant events. And a lot of misinformation and finger-pointing. Both "far-left" and "far-right" groups have been implicated in the violence.
The George Floyd protests[13][14] and riots[14] are an ongoing series of violent uprisings in the United States that initially started in the Minneapolis–Saint Paul metropolitan area of Minnesota before spreading nationwide. The protests began in Minneapolis on May 26, 2020, after George Floyd died shortly after Minneapolis Police Department (MPD) officer Derek Chauvin knelt on his neck for 8 minutes and 46 seconds during an arrest the prior night.
Protests at the MPD's Third Precinct[15] saw some demonstrators skirmishing with law enforcement officers, who fired tear gas and rubber bullets.[16][17] On May 27, one man was fatally shot by a pawn shop owner who thought the man was looting, and the Third Precinct's windows were smashed. Multiple stores were looted, and other buildings were attacked and set ablaze.[18]
For several days following Floyd's death, hundreds of protesters gathered at the driveway of Chauvin's house, which prompted police response.[19] On May 28, Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey declared a state of emergency, and 500 Minnesota National Guard troops were called in by Governor of Minnesota Tim Walz.[20] By the morning more businesses across the Twin Cities were damaged and looted. MPD in the Third Precinct building attempted to hold off the protesters with tear gas, but at around 11:00 p.m., protesters overran the building and set it ablaze after it was evacuated.[21] The protests continued into May 30. Tim Walz, Jacob Frey, and Saint Paul Mayor Melvin Carter imposed curfews.[22] President Donald Trump assured Walz of military support if needed.[23]
As of May 30, there were simultaneous protests in over 100 other cities in the United States and internationally supporting those seeking justice for Floyd and the Black Lives Matter movement and speaking out against police brutality. Major cities with protests included Atlanta; Charlotte; Chicago; Columbus; Dallas; Denver; Fort Lauderdale; Indianapolis; Jacksonville; Los Angeles; Miami; New York City; Phoenix; Portland, Oregon; Richmond, Virginia; San Francisco; Seattle; and Washington, D.C.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Floyd_protests#Alleged_extremist_involvement
Personally I find this all very worrying. In one sense it's an explosion of an aspect of a "culture war" that has been strongly encouraged, especially by Trump, but others are not helping. It partially centers around the Black Lives Matter vs. Blue Lives Matter movements.
Alleged extremist involvement[edit]
There have been accusations of various extremist groups using the cover of the protests to foment general unrest in the United States, but "officials offered little evidence to show who was responsible and contradicted one another on who was to blame."[401] Donald Trump blamed "far left extremist groups" for inciting and organizing violent riots.[87] "What we are seeing now on the streets of our cities has nothing to do with justice or with peace," Trump said. "Those making excuses or justification for violence are not helping the downtrodden, but delivering new anguish and new pain." [402] During a press conference, Pittsburgh Police Chief Scott Schubert claimed Antifa were behind the violence during the protests. He added, “It’s just a damn shame that they took advantage of the situation, for something, something happened in another state where somebody died who shouldn’t have died, and they hijacked that message for their own.”[403] U.S. Attorney General William Barr blamed "anarchic and far left extremist groups using Antifa-like tactics" for the violence at the protests. "The voices of peaceful protest are being hijacked by violent radical elements," Barr said.[404]
Vice reported that the far-right "boogaloo boys," whose ideological aim is to incite a second civil war, have been spotted at the protests.[405] Admins of the Facebook page Big Igloo Bois, a splinter of the Boogaloo movement, called for members to attend the protests with one administrator stating, "come in peace, prepare for there to be violence."[406] White supremacists were claimed by Minnesota officials to have taken part.[407] An attendee of the Friday night Minneapolis protests — Jonathan Turner Bargen — claimed to see a white man in a red pickup truck, carrying an assault rifle and a handgun with a far-right militia group Three Percenters symbol on the truck.[406] The truck had Minnesota license plates.[406] Another attendee — Bridget Schumann — reported a truck driven aggressively, intimidating other drivers.[406] The truck reportedly had a white sticker featuring the OK sign symbol.[406] The symbol has been associated with white supremacists.[406] Schumann claimed that the two men in the truck were harassing a woman leaving an apartment building garage.[406] A similar story was told by Alexia Kelsey who came to the Friday protests to help clean up the damage.[406] According to MPR News, social media users have claimed that far-right activism and "fringe" libertarian groups were seizing on the instability to provoke violence and destruction."[406] White nationalist Nick Fuentes also attended a protest in Tampa.[408][failed verification] Alexander Reid Ross, a doctoral fellow at the Center for Analysis of the Radical Right supported the idea of far-right extremist involvement. He also doubted the prominence of Antifa groups although acknowledge that some online Antifa groups were supporting the protests.[406]
Minnesota Governor Tim Walz speculated that there was "an organized attempt to destabilize civil society," initially stating that as many as 80% of the individuals had possibly come from outside the state,[409] and the mayor of St. Paul, Melvin Carter, said that everyone arrested in St. Paul on May 29 was from out of state.[410] However, this was shown to the be incorrect, as records proved that the majority of those arrested were in-state.[411] At a press conference later the same day, Carter explained that he had "shared... arrest data received in [his] morning police briefing which [he] later learned to be inaccurate".[412]
The so-called "Umbrella Man," who was recorded calmly breaking windows during the beginning of the protests, was accused of being an agent provocateur trying to provoke or give the appearance of rioting; some speculated he was working for the police, but the police chief denied it.[49]
Misinformation[edit]
Misinformation was spread across social media, hours prior to the beginning of the first protests. Members of the general public and celebrities have spread images of men wearing MAGA hats or near President Trump during a rally, that were falsely identified as Chauvin. Others have spread images of other protests or incidents claiming that the violence and destruction were attributed to the protestors but were instead from other protests.[413]
Who you blame might depend on which news bubble you consume, and where your political sympathies lie.
Who else is stoking the flames? Russia is an obvious candidate, and are already running interference:
https://www.rt.com/news/490309-russia-meddling-us-riots-media/
The general sense I'm getting from RT is roughly one of support for the protests and denying reports of outside agitators.
Russia’s to blame? MSM allegations that Moscow had a hand in US anti-police-brutality riots ‘entirely to be expected’
31 May, 2020 12:41
It’s completely predictable that politicians and news outlets are pointing the finger at Russia for riots across the US, analysts told RT, since blaming the Kremlin for everything inconvenient has become an American pastime.
Nationwide demonstrations against the death of George Floyd have descended into rioting and looting in many cities, creating chaos – as well as political opportunism. Efforts to scapegoat Russia for the crisis are par for the course, George Szamuely, a senior research fellow at the Global Policy Institute told RT.
“It was entirely to be expected. I was wondering how long it would take the mainstream media to find a Russian angle. Of course, there’s not the slightest evidence for this, but that’s to be expected,” he noted.
According to Szamuely, America’s “liberal elite” has latched onto the idea that the Kremlin is lurking around every corner – a “habit” that took root after Hillary Clinton lost the 2016 presidential election.
