Dozens of cities across the US have issued curfews in an effort to stop some demonstrations that have turned into riots and led to property damage and looting.

New York City officials announced they will impose an earlier curfew tonight, beginning at 20:00 EDT, and it will continue all week.

Los Angeles County will also be under curfew tonight, from 18:00 until 06:00 local time tomorrow.

Atlanta has extended its curfew as well - it will start at 21:00 local time and continue until sunrise.

Police in Louisville, Kentucky, say a popular restaurant owner who was shot dead by metro police and National Guard troops early on Monday morning had fired a gun at them.

They released video footage which they claim shows David McAtee - a 53-year-old black business owner - holding and firing a gun before he was killed.

“Mr McAtee appears to fire at the officers, and they take cover and return fire. But without audio... that is yet to be determined," acting police chief Robert Schroeder said on Tuesday.

On Monday, the Louisville mayor sacked the last police chief, saying it was an "institutional failure" that caused the officers involved in the shooting to not use their body-cameras.

Friends and family have disputed that McAtee had attacked officers - with some saying that he was only serving food at the protest site, which was near to his BBQ restaurant.

The restaurant owner was well-known in his community, the mayor acknowledged during his press conference today. Family members say McAtee frequently gave free food to officers while they were on patrol.

Police have not yet said whether they found a gun on McAtee's body, which lay in the street for more than 12 hours on Monday as officers investigated the scene.

Image source, Getty Images

President Donald Trump left the White House on Tuesday to lay a wreath at the Pope John Paul II National Shrine in north-east Washington DC - a historically marginalised part of the city.

Protesters lined the route taken by the presidential motorcade, with many residents holding signs reading "Black Lives Matter" and calling for Trump to return to the White House bunker where he briefly sheltered after clashes outside of the compound last Friday.

For the second day in a row, Trump's staged visit to a church drew condemnation from religious leaders.

“I find it baffling and reprehensible that any Catholic facility would allow itself to be so egregiously misused and manipulated in a fashion that violates our religious principles, which call us to defend the rights of all people, even those with whom we might disagree,” Washington DC Catholic Archbishop Wilton Gregory said in a statement on Tuesday.

Image source, Getty Images

Image source, Getty Images

On Monday, Mariann Budde, bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Washington, told CNN that she was outraged that the president's visit to her community's church (St John's) caused peaceful protesters to be tear-gassed.

"The president just used a Bible, the most sacred text of the Judeo-Christian tradition, and one of the churches of my diocese, without permission, as a backdrop for a message antithetical to the teachings of Jesus and everything that our churches stand for," she said.

Image source, Reuters

Image source, Getty Images

Read more:

Archbishop attacks Trump as unrest continues

Chelsea and Newcastle have become the latest Premier League teams to take a knee following the death of George Floyd.

"It is something where we want to use our position to express that we are living in a world where we have to try to improve it for the future, to be a better world with more love, without hate,’ Chelsea captain Cesar Azpilicueta said.

The Chelsea players chose the formation of H for human.

Newcastle also took a knee, posting on Twitter #UnitedAsOne.

Six officers in Atlanta, Georgia have been charged with using excessive force while arresting two college students on Saturday, the Fulton County District Attorney has said.

Arrest warrants have been issued for the officers: Lonnie Hood, Willie Sauls, Ivory Streeter, Mark Gardner, Armond Jones and Roland Claud, CBS News 46 reported., external

They have until 5 June to turn themselves in.

Two of the officers involved had been fired on Sunday by the city's mayor, and three were put on desk duty amid the investigation.

What happened?

The students were in a car after curfew in the city. Officers were filmed opening the passenger door and pulling one of the students, a young woman, out of the car. Another officer smashed the driver's side window, and the young man in the driver's seat was tasered.

The students were reportedly leaving a protest.

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau was asked today about his response to US President Donald Trump using tear gas to disperse protesters for a photo-op.

After a noticeable pause - around 20 seconds - Trudeau answered: "We all watch in horror and consternation what is going on in the United States."

He said it is a time to bring people together, "but it is a time to listen, it is a time to learn what injustices continue despite progress over years and decades".

Trudeau did not further comment on Trump's actions, and quickly shifted towards discussing Canada's own issues with racial inequalities, saying Canadians must recognise "that we, too, have our challenges".

"Black Canadians and racialised Canadians face discrimination as a reality every single day...We need to be allies in the fight against discrimination."

The clean-up started on Tuesday morning after a night of chaos in Washington DC, as armed soldiers cleared out peaceful protesters from near the White House.

Here are some more photos from the events of Monday evening and the morning after:

Image source, Getty Images

Image source, Getty Images

Image source, Getty Images

Image source, Getty Images

Image source, Getty Images

Image source, EPA

The National Guard is a reserve military force that can be called upon by state governors - and in some cases, the president - to intervene in domestic emergencies.

As of Tuesday, there are 20,400 National Guard troops activated across 28 states and the nation's capital to help with the civil unrest.

This is up from Monday's report of some 17,000 in 23 states.

"The situation remains fluid and the numbers may change rapidly as governors assess their needs," the Guard said in a statement.

An additional 42,000 members are out supporting Covid-19 response efforts across the country.

The last time such high numbers of the Guard were activated was in 2005, after Hurricane Katrina.

Guard troops primarily serve their home states, but can also be called upon for other missions.

Nebraska Republican Senator Ben Sasse has slammed Trump's visit to a church near the White House yesterday.

“There is no right to riot," he said in a statement.

"But there is a fundamental - a constitutional - right to protest, and I’m against clearing out a peaceful protest for a photo-op that treats the Word of God as a political prop."

South Carolina Senator Tim Scott, the only black Republican in the chamber, told Politico: "If your question is, should you use tear gas to clear a path so the president can go have a photo-op, the answer is no."

Top Senate Republican Mitch McConnell has not yet commented on the decision to clear Lafayette park of peaceful protesters to allow for Trump's visit, which took place yesterday minutes before Washington's curfew took effect.

Moment ago, Utah Senator Mike Lee told a reporter, external: “I don’t have any reaction to it."

"I haven’t seen footage. Haven’t read accounts of it."

Yesterday's drama outside the White House was carried live on all US media outlets and has been front page news across the country today.

Tara McKelvey
BBC News, Washington

Image source, Getty Images

Kate Engemann, a human-resources specialist in Hermann, Missouri, says the protesters in Washington DC are “working for the devil”.

Her views are shared by many in east-central Missouri, a part of the country that is known for its corn fields and pig farms - and its conservative views.

“Burning a church, looting,” says Brian Bufka, who lives in Warrenton, “I don’t agree with that.”

Bufka concedes that Trump does not always say the right thing but believes that “his heart is in the right place” and that he is trying hard to handle a tough situation.

Bufka’s friend, Rod Sturgeon who fixes motorcycles, has a different view.

Image source, Rod Sturgeon

“I think the darn president is probably the worst thing that’s ever happened to this country,” Sturgeon says.

“I’m scared to death that there will be a civil war.” Still Sturgeon admits he is an “outlier”. Trump won Missouri by a big margin, and polls show he remains popular in the state.

The protests in Washington and other cities have only reinforced the high marks that Bufka and others in town given the president.

On 3 November 2020, Bufka says: “I’ll vote for him again.”

Trump administration officials raised the idea of taking over the Washington DC police force, an official in the city mayor's office said on Tuesday.

According to the Washington Post, Washington DC is an "enclave governed by a mayor and the council, but the federal law granting self-governance allows the president to take control of local police officers in emergency situations".

John Falcicchio, the chief of staff to Democratic Mayor Muriel Bowser, told reporters that his office instructed the Trump officials that the mayor would fight any such move in court.

Earlier in the day, Bowser said that she would regard any effort to take over the DC police force "as an affront to even our limited home rule and the safety of the District of Columbia".

Earlier today on MSNBC, she criticised Trump's walk to a church on Monday and said: "At no time did we assist the federal police with the president's movements."

Image source, AFP

The curfews announced in the cities of Los Angeles and New York are the harshest in decades.

In NYC, a one-night 23:00-05:00 curfew was imposed on Monday,, external and a 20:00-05:00 curfew until the end of the week was announced on Tuesday.

The last time similar restrictions were enacted in the city was in 1943, following race riots in Harlem.

In LA, the authorities said a one-night 12-hour overnight curfew from 18:00 to 06:00 would be enforced from Monday night, external

These are the strictest restrictive measures in Los Angeles since the riots in 1992 over the acquittal of police officers accused of using excessive force against Rodney King, a black construction worker. Back then, a dusk-to-dawn curfew was introduced.

Image source, Getty Images

Image source, Getty Images

BBC Radio 1 host Clara Amfo has been praised for making a candid, emotional speech on air about George Floyd's death and her own mental health.

Speaking on Tuesday, Amfo said she had been so affected by Mr Floyd's death that she had missed her show on Monday.

"I didn't have the mental strength to face you guys yesterday," said the DJ, her voice breaking with emotion.

"I was sat on my sofa crying, angry, confused... stuck at the news of yet another brutalised black body."

Amfo said Mr Floyd's death reinforced a feeling among black people that "that people want our culture, but they do not want us".

She added: "In other words, you want my talent, but you don't want me.

"There is a false idea that racism - and in this case anti-blackness - is just name-calling and physical violence, when it is so much more insidious than that.

"One of my favourite thinkers is a woman called Amanda Seales, and she says this and I feel it deeply when she says, 'You cannot enjoy the rhythm and ignore the blues'. And I say that with my chest."

Listen to Clara Amfo's speech here.

Anthony Zurcher
BBC North America reporter

Image source, Reuters

Joe Biden’s presidential campaign appears to be emerging from its coronavirus-imposed lockdown.

After visiting a war memorial last week and meeting religious leaders on Monday, the presumptive Democratic nominee made the short trip from his home in Delaware to Philadelphia’s historic city hall, where he gave a high-profile, widely televised address.

Biden pledged to push for policing reforms, including a ban on the use of chokeholds like the one that resulted in George Floyd’s death.

He also lashed out at President Donald Trump’s handling of the nationwide crisis.

The former vice-president is trying to draw a sharp contrast with the current White House occupant - both by making concrete proposals for how law enforcement should operate and in suggesting that Trump’s tone and attitude is ill-suited for the perilous moment in American history.

"I won’t traffic in fear and division," Biden said. "I won’t fan the flames of hate."

For months Biden has been effectively sidelined as crisis after crisis unfolds, relying on virtual meetings and television appearances to keep his campaign sustained.

The low visibility hasn’t seemed to hurt his efforts, however, as polls suggest he has held a steady lead over Trump in voter preference heading into November’s election.

It is a remarkable bit of stability in US politics, given that each new day in America seems to hit like a storm-driven wave pounding the shore.

Image source, AFP

Oscar-winnning film-maker Spike Lee says Americans are angry because they live in a world where "the system is not set up for you to win".

"It's not like you're just born angry," he told BBC arts editor Will Gompertz.

Lee also said President Trump's response showed that "he's a gangster, he's trying to be a dictator".

"This show of force - gassing, beating innocent, peaceful bystanders so you could clear the street so you could take a walk to the church. It was ridiculous."

He added: "The Bible did not look comfortable in his hand, and he didn't look comfortable holding the Bible either. I have never seen something like that before in my life, particularly with a world leader."

Read the full story here.

New York Governor Andrew Cuomo has just held a press conference - while the mayor of New York City was speaking to reporters alongside the city's police commissioner - to criticise both men.

"The NYPD and the mayor did not do their job last night," says Cuomo, outraged over reports that the police stood by and allowed looters and vandals to commit crimes in Manhattan yesterday.

Nearly 700 arrests were made, the police commissioner said.

"I think the mayor underestimates the scope of the problem and the duration of the problem. What happened in New York City was inexcusable,” Cuomo continues.

Cuomo also said he may "displace" the mayor and order the National Guard into New York City, a move that Mayor Bill de Blasio just vowed to prevent.

Image source, Getty Images

Over the weekend thousands of people chanted "Black Lives Matter" across the UK - at protests in London, Manchester and Cardiff.

They were marching in support of protesters in America angered by the death of George Floyd on 25 May.

"We didn't expect that many people to turn up at the protests, it was mad," 20-year-old Shayne tells Radio 1 Newsbeat.

"The general vibe was electric because you could literally see that everybody was hurt."

Shayne says she and her friends wore military boots to the London protest and were impressed to see lots of other women dressed like members of the Black Panther movement.

"There were a lot of black women with their natural hair out," she says.

"We wanted to show we're proud of who we are and that we shouldn't have to hide our blackness to stay alive."

See here for more on why the death of George Floyd resonates with many in the UK.

Image source, Getty Images

Philadelphia Mayor Jim Kenney has extended the city's curfew until Thursday.

It comes after more than 250 people were arrested on Monday night.

Police say one looter was fatally shot by the owner of a gun store and a man blew himself up while trying to get into an ATM.

On Tuesday, all of the city's Covid-19 testing centres have been shut down, due to the ongoing protests, which have entered their fourth day.

Health experts around the US have cautioned that protests could lead to a resurgence of the coronavirus outbreak.

Presidential candidate Joe Biden - and his multi-car motorcade - was also in the city's downtown today, where he criticised President Trump's response to the crisis.

Athletes and teams around the world have joined a 'blackout' on social media in response to George Floyd's death.

On Tuesday, across the world, people and organisations have been sharing a simple plain black post - a social media 'blackout'.

Stars including LeBron James, Jadon Sancho, Marcus Rashford and Eoin Morgan have taken part.

Washington Archbishop Wilton Gregory has joined the religious voices expressing their shock at President Trump's church visit last night and weighed in on the US president's visit to the Saint John Paul II National Shrine today.

"I find it baffling and reprehensible that any Catholic facility would allow itself to be so egregiously misused and manipulated in a fashion that violates our religious principles, which call us to defend the rights of all people even those with whom we might disagree," he said in a statement., external

"Saint Pope John Paul II was an ardent defender of the rights and dignity of human beings. His legacy bears vivid witness to that truth.

"He certainly would not condone the use of tear gas and other deterrents to silence, scatter or intimidate them for a photo opportunity in front of a place of worship and peace."

The president and First Lady posed for a photo outside the shrine moments ago.

Protesters were seen along the presidential motorcade's path.

Image source, Reuters