George Floyd protests: Washington’s ‘Black Lives Matter’ mural can be seen from space

Eleven days after George Floyd’s death, outrage over police violence continues to fuel protests nationwide.

Floyd, 46, died May 25 in police custody, and authorities have arrested four Minneapolis police officers in connection with his death.

Former officer Derek Chauvin has been charged with second-degree murder, third-degree murder and second-degree manslaughter in Floyd’s death. Three other officers -- identified as Thomas Lane, J.A. Kueng and Tou Thao – face charges of aiding and abetting second-degree murder and aiding and abetting second-degree manslaughter.

Floyd died on Memorial Day after he was detained for questioning regarding a possible forgery in progress. 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 Saturday, June 6 continue below:

Washington’s ‘Black Lives Matter’ mural can be seen from space

Update 11:51 p.m. EDT June 6: The large, yellow type “Black Lives Matter” mural that stretches along two blocks of a Washington D.C. street is visible from space, CNN reported.

A satellite image of the mural was posted to social media by Planet Labs, a satellite observation network based in California.

Washington Mayor Muriel Bowser commissioned the mural along 16th Street. Bowser also had the section named “Black Lives Matter Plaza” with appropriate street signs in place.

Pittsburgh police chief kneels with protesters

Update 11:25 p.m. EDT June 6: Pittsburgh Chief of Police Scott Schubert and several other officers joined hundreds of peaceful protesters Friday to march and kneel in a moment of silence at the Liberty Tunnel, WPXI-TV reported.

The tunnel was closed for a time, blocked off with a line of state police troopers, as the crowd approached.

Following the march and moment of silence, the group of hundreds turned around and returned to the parking lot.

Protesters march for 9th day in Seattle

Update 10:46 p.m. EDT June 6: Protesters marched for a 9th consecutive day in Seattle in a peaceful demonstration, holding to a shift in tone and mood that seemed to start Friday, KIRO-TV reported.

The shift came after changes were made in police actions including officials with the Seattle Police Department saying they would stop using tear gas during protests.

The ban on tear gas is for 30 days.

Protesters said Friday they would keep the pressure on Seattle Mayor Jenny Durkan and police Chief Carmen Best to make changes.

Golden Gate Bridge sidewalk opened for protesters

Update 10:14 p.m. EDT June 6: The west sidewalk of the Golden Gate Bridge was opened Saturday for protesters during a Black Lives Matter protest.

Thousands of people crowded the bridge, tying up traffic along the iconic San Francisco bridge.

Tow trucks held off car traffic in both directions, and police directed vehicles caught in the middle of the bridge to go around protesters who eventually moved off the roadway peacefully.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

White House wanted 10,000 active duty troops patrolling streets across the country

Update 9:25 p.m. EDT June 6: President Donald Trump earlier this week wanted 10,000 active duty troops patrolling the streets of cities across the country, CBS News reported.

Secretary of Defense Mark Esper, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Mark Milley and Attorney General William Barr advised against the plan.

Esper did move about 1,600 active duty troops into Washington, D.C. to respond as needed. However the 5,000 National Guard troops did not need the help. The active duty troops started to leave Thursday, CNN reported.

The National Guard has deployed 43,000 members in 34 states and Washington, D.C.

Rapper, actor Chris ‘Ludacris’ Bridges joins Atlanta demonstration

Update 7:45 p.m. EDT June 6: Rapper and actor Chris “Ludacris” Bridges joined protesters who took to the streets across Atlanta for a ninth day on Saturday, demanding racial and social justice.

“There is change happening very slowly," Bridges told WSB-TV. “We have the world’s ear right now. It’s going take a while. But anyone who signed up with us for this fight, be prepared to do it for more than 401 years and that’s all I have to say.”

Bridges was at a demonstration outside Atlanta City Hall.

Broncos players, coaches join protests in Denver

Update 7:03 p.m. EDT June 6: Players and coaches with the Denver Broncos marched with protesters at a demonstration Saturday.

Wearing masks as part of coronavirus mitigation efforts, players wore black shirts with the words “Justice for George Floyd” on the front and “If you ain’t with us, you against us” on the back.

“The time is always right to do what is right,” outside linebacker Von Miller said. “It’s up to us to keep this going.”

Safety Kareem Jackson helped organize the team’s appearance on this 10th day of demonstrations in downtown Denver.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Atlanta lifts Saturday night curfew

Update 5:44 p.m. EDT June 6: The city of Atlanta will not have a 8 p.m. curfew Saturday night.

A spokesperson with the mayor’s office confirmed to WSB-TV that the citywide curfew has been lifted. Officials will monitor the situation before they make a decision about Sunday’s curfew.

Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms ordered the first curfew last Saturday after peaceful protests turned into a night of vandalism and looting from downtown Atlanta to Buckhead.

Bottoms had extended the nightly curfews throughout the week with an earlier one that went into effect at 8 p.m. Friday.

Watch: George Floyd’s memorial service in NC

Update 2:58 p.m. EDT June 6: Mourners gathered at Free Will Baptist Church in Raeford, North Carolina for a service for George Floyd. Watch it here:

Romney recalls father’s participation in civil rights march

Update 2:41 p.m. EDT June 6: Sen. Mitt Romney invoked the memory of his late father’s participation during a Civil Rights march in Detroit during the 1960s, The Washington Post reported.

Romney, R-Utah, shared a photo on Twitter and Facebook of then-Michigan Gov. George Romney waking with protesters.

“Force alone will not eliminate riots,” Mitt Romney wrote, quoting his father, who was governor of Michigan from 1969 to 1973. “We must eliminate the problems from which they stem.”

Queens DA will not prosecute certain arrests

Update 2:26 p.m. EDT June 6: Queens District Attorney Melinda Katz tweeted Saturday that she will not prosecute protest arrests based on curfew and social distancing violations.

“We are proud to be a united front on this issue. Queens DA Katz is committed to reforms in the name of #SocialJustice and has declined to prosecute based on curfew and social distancing violations,” Katz said.

A spokesperson for Katz told CNN that DA has refused to prosecute curfew-breakers "from the start.”

More than 2,500 protesters assemble in Philadelphia

Update 2:18 p.m. EDT June 6: Approximately 2,500 protesters gathered outside the Philadelphia Museum of Art before heading to City Hall to rally against police brutality, WPVI reported. The demonstration began at noon, with protesters chanting, “No justice, no peace!” the television station reported.

Thousands of protesters gather in DC, police say

Update 1:48 p.m. EDT June 6: Police in Washington D.C. said there are about 6,000 protesters in the nation’s capital.

According to a tweet by DC Police Traffic, a division of the Metropolitan Police Department, approximately 3,000 people have gathered at the Lincoln Memorial and another 3,000 have massed g near the White House.

George Floyd’s high school to hold candlelight vigil

Update 1:40 p.m. EDT June 6: A candlelight vigil honoring George Floyd will be held Monday at the Houston high school he attended, KTRK reported.

National and local alumni were invited to the football field at Jack Yates High School for the 7:30 pm.. vigil, the television station reported.

In a statement, Jack Yates officials said the alumni of the school “is deeply saddened and enraged over the senseless murder of our beloved Lion.”

“We wish to express our support for the family and friends of Mr. Floyd. We along with millions of others across the world demand justice for this Injustice..”

Social distancing will be enforced at the vigil, KTRK reported, and attendees will be required to wear masks and gloves.

Mourners in NC gather for George Floyd memorial service

Update 1:31 p.m. EDT June 6: The body of George Floyd was returned to his home state for a public viewing Saturday in Raeford. North Carolina, The Washington Post reported. Floyd’s body was inside a plush blue coffin at Free Will Baptist Church, the newspaper reported.

Floyd, 46, was dressed in a tan suit and a brown tie and coffin was surrounded by floral arrangements, although his family had requested no flowers, the Post reported.

As people posed for selfies in front of the church, an official told mourners to put away their phones before entering the church, the newspaper reported.

“No phones out. No photos. No foul language,” he said. “This is a respectful service.”

National Guard has deployed 43,000 members nationwide

Update 11:55 a.m. EDT June 6: The National Guard said in a tweet that it has deployed 43,000 members in 34 states and the District of Columbia in response to protests in the aftermath of the death of George Floyd on May 25.

That number represents an 1,800 increase of Guardsmen now engaged nationwide.

Buffalo officers who shoved elderly man charged with assault, released

Update 11:31 a.m. EDT June 6: Prosecutors said two Buffalo, New York, police officers were charged with assault after video showed them shoving a 75-year-old protester, The Associated Press reported.

Both men pleaded not guilty to a single count of second-degree assault via video conference and were released without bail, CNN reported.

Earlier, police shut down roads in front of the City Court and gathered to support two fellow officers who were arraigned on charges that they shoved peace activist Martin Gugino on Thursday during a protest, the Buffalo News reported.

Buffalo Police Commissioner Byron Lockwood suspended the officers without pay after the incident and ordered an internal investigation, the News reported.

Thousands attend Black Lives Matter protests in UK

Update 9:38 a.m. EDT June 6: Thousands of protesters gathered at London’s Parliament Square on Saturday as part of a Black Lives Matter demonstration, CNN reported. The protest was one of several across the United Kingdom.

There also was a Black Lives Matter protest in Manchester, according to the BBC. which estimated the crowd around Piccadilly Gardens to be at least 15,000 people and growing.

Police, protesters clash in Portland, Oregon

Update 8:52 a.m. EDT June 6: Police in Portland, Oregon clashed with protesters late Friday and early Saturday after declaring a large gathering at the Justice Center a “civil disturbance and an unlawful assembly," KATU reported.

The declaration came after police said people in the crowd began throwing objects at officers standing guard at the Justice Center, the television station reported. A Portland Police Bureau spokesperson said several officers were injured but did not reveal the extent of their injuries.

The Multnomah County Sheriff’s Office said it used gas and later tear gas to disperse the crowd, The Washington Post reported. Deputies said they arrested 20 adults and one juvenile, the newspaper reported. The crowd left the area by 4 a.m. local time.

California gov: Chokehold has ‘no place’ in 21st-century policing

Update 4:29 a.m. EDT June 6: A controversial chokehold has been removed from the state’s police training curriculum, California Gov. Gavin Newsom announced Friday.

Known as a “carotid hold,” the maneuver can block blood flow to the brain.

“We train techniques on strangleholds that put people’s lives at risk That has no place any longer in 21st century practices and policing,” Newsom said.

Drew Brees’ reversal on kneeling fails to persuade Trump of NFL protest’s value

Update 3:51 a.m. EDT June 6: New Orleans Saints quarterback Drew Brees took to Instagram Friday to try explaining one more time his new understanding of NFL protests to U.S. President Donald Trump.

In the post, which Brees directed to Trump personally, he explained the American flag was never the target of the protest but rather systemic racism.

Brees’ post came two days after he said he would “never agree with anybody disrespecting the flag,” for which he later issued a formal apology, calling his own comments “insensitive” and noting they “missed the mark on the issues we are facing right now as a country."

Trump was not impressed in the least by Brees’ Mea culpa.

"He should not have taken back his original stance on honoring our magnificent American Flag," Trump tweeted. "OLD GLORY is to be revered, cherished, and flown high..."

In turn, Brees’ Instagram post argued “we can no longer use the flag to turn people away or distract them from the real issues that face our black communities."

California soldier removed from National Guard duty after violent Snapchat remarks

Update 3:12 a.m. EDT June 6: A soldier who posted a Snapchat image that referenced killing “rioters” has been relieved of duty by the California National Guard.

The soldier, who was removed Friday, had written: “Bout to put some rioters faces on those RIP shirts.”

Meanwhile, an Ohio National Guardsman has been removed from duty in Washington after expressing “white-supremacist ideology on the Internet,” Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine said during a Friday news conference.

Federal judge rules ‘threat to physical safety and free speech outweighs the threat to property’

Update 2:33 a.m. EDT June 6: A federal judge ruled late Friday that tear gas and rubber bullets are no longer options for the Denver Police Department confronting peaceful protesters.

The threat to physical safety and free speech outweighs the threat to property,” U.S. District Judge R. Brooke Jackson wrote.

Jackson’s ruling came after four protesters filed suit against the city of Denver, prompting the immediate moratorium on the use of “chemical weapons or projectiles” against protesters.

“If a store’s windows must be broken to prevent a protester’s facial bones from being broken or eye being permanently damaged, that is more than a fair trade. If a building must be graffiti-ed to prevent the suppression of free speech, that is a fair trade,” Jackson wrote.

The judge’s ruling also stipulates rubber bullets can never be aimed at the head, pelvis or back or shot indiscriminately into a crowd, and officers must wear body cameras that are recording at all times, The Washington Post reported.

NYPD suspends 2 officers, transfers supervisor amid multiple protest complaints

Published 2 a.m. EDT June 6: Two NYPD officers and one supervisor are facing stiff consequences following three high-profile incidents during recent New York City protests, Police Commissioner Dermot Shea confirmed late Friday.

“Like all New Yorkers, we are acutely aware of the unique times we are in,” Shea said during a Friday news conference, noting two officers have been suspended without pay pending internal investigations and one supervisor has been transferred as a result of recent skirmishes captured on video.

“While the investigations have to play out, based on the severity of what we saw, it is appropriate and necessary to assure the public that there will be transparency during the disciplinary process,” Shea said.

One officer was caught on video pushing a woman to the ground in Brooklyn on May 29, and a supervisor present during the altercation has been transferred. The second suspended officer can be seen in a separate video pulling down a protester’s face mask and pepper spraying him.

All three cases have been referred to the department advocate for disciplinary action, Shea said.

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