A Bangladeshi-Indian restaurant in Minneapolis was set ablaze by rioters, who clashed with the police over a black man.
The Gandhi Mahal restaurant was the main source of income for Hafsa Islam's family. Upon hearing the news, the 18-year-old told New York Times that she was angry at first, but then she heard her father Ruhel Islam, speaking to a friend over the phone and saying, "Let my building burn. Justice needs to be served."
Ruhel, 42 extended his support to the protests stating, “We can rebuild a building, but we cannot rebuild a human. The community is still here, and we can work together to rebuild.”
Large-scale protests turned violent in Minneapolis, as protestors breached police department’s 3rd Precinct building and set it ablaze on Thursday night.
Minnesota Governor Tim Walz has declared a state of emergency and activated the National Guard to restore order.
Wednesday night's protests began peacefully and escalated into gunfire and arson, with about 30 buildings reported ablaze, and countless others damaged.
George Floyd, a 46-year-old African-American man died on Monday after a white police officer pinned him to the ground with a knee to the back of his neck while he was handcuffed and other officers stood by.
While being pinned down, Floyd repeatedly pleaded, "Please, I can't breathe" and "don't kill me".
Derek Chauvin, who was shown in footage kneeling on George Floyd's neck, and three other officers were sacked over the fatality.
The incident concerning Floyd occurred on Monday night when after receiving a complaint, reportedly that a man might be trying to pass a counterfeit $20 bill at a local store, police officers arrived on the scene and found Floyd sitting in his vehicle, Efe news reported.
When they ordered him to get out, they said he resisted arrest, adding in their official report filed after the incident that after they had handcuffed him and made him lie facedown on the pavement they noticed that he was in "medical distress".
In the video taken by a passerby of Floyd's arrest and the events leading to his death, the man is seen lying facedown on the pavement beside a patrol car with one of the officers kneeling on the back of his neck for more than five minutes without changing position, despite the fact that Floyd can be heard saying that he cannot breathe and begging for the officers not to hurt him, until he ultimately loses consciousness.
"Please, please, please I can't breathe," and "My stomach hurts. My neck hurts. Please, please. I can't breathe," Floyd is heard saying. But the officer never reduced the pressure of his knee and body weight on the man's neck until an ambulance arrived minutes later and Floyd was loaded onto a stretcher showing no signs of life. He was later pronounced dead at a local hospital.
