Authors
Claim
A tweet claimed that a police station in Minneapolis was set on fire with a 23-second video showing a building ablaze.
Factcheck
We came across many news reports that wrote about a police station being set on fire in Minneapolis last week. On 28 May, 2020, protestors set alight a police precinct in Minneapolis, Minnesota on account of the now former Minneapolis police officer, Derek Chauvin, brutally killing George Floyd, according to allegations in these state charging documents.
Floyd, a 46-year-old black man died after Derek Chauvin, a white police officer, knelt on his neck during an arrest on 25 May. Many news reports and videos of the incident show Flyod shouting “I cannot breathe” and “Don’t kill me.” He was “detained for allegedly using a counterfeit $20 dollar bill in a purchase,” reports Scroll. The four police officers involved in the death of Floyd, including Chauvin, were later fired from their jobs.
In the same week, mounting anger towards Flyod’s death led to massive protests in Minneapolis which later spread to other parts of the country. Here are some visuals from the protests in the United States:
President of the United States, Donald Trump, was under fire from Twitter that accused him of “glorifying violence” in a post that said, “When the looting starts, the shooting starts.”
These widespread protests were a sign of reignited fury over police killings of black Americans and continued racial inequality in the United States. Curfews have been imposed in many cities across the country bracing for another week of unrest. People in London, Berlin, and Toronto are taking to the streets as well protesting that Black Lives Matter.
Conclusion
It’s true that a police precinct in Minneapolis was set on fire by protestors after the shocking death of George Floyd by a police officer last week.
Tools Used
- Google search
- Youtube
Result: True
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