Protesters confront the police during a massive street protest over the killing of George Floyd in Los Angeles, the United States, May 30, 2020. (Xinhua)
"This is no longer a protest. This is vandalism. This is destruction," says Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti.
LOS ANGELES, May 31 (Xinhua) -- California governor Gavin Newsom declared a state of emergency in Los Angeles County on Saturday night on the fourth straight day of protests over the death of African American George Floyd.
Newsom also authorized assistance by the National Guard in coping with the unrest in downtown Los Angeles.
A document signed by him said the state government made this decision based on the request by the city and the county of Los Angeles, which, with a population of more than 10 million population, is the most populous county in the United States.
It also attributed the Los Angeles protests to a response to the death of George Floyd.
A screengrab from the Twitter account of the Office of the Governor of California on May 31, 2020, shows the office's announcement that Governor Gavin Newsom has "proclaimed a state of emergency in Los Angeles County." (Xinhua)
"On May 25, 2020, George Floyd tragically died in Minneapolis, Minnesota, shortly following his arrest in which an officer of the Minneapolis Police Department kneeled on his neck to detain him during the arrest, and then did not respond to Mr. Floyd's requests for help when he stated that he could not breathe," the document read.
A curfew announced by Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti on Saturday afternoon took effect in the second largest city of the United States, from 8:00 p.m. to 5:30 a.m. local time for Saturday going into Sunday.
Several other cities in the Los Angeles area on Saturday imposed curfews beginning at 8:00 p.m. as well. They included Pasadena, Santa Monica, West Hollywood and Beverly Hills.
Protesters confront the police during a massive street protest over the killing of George Floyd in Los Angeles, the United States, May 30, 2020. (Xinhua)
The protest over Floyd's death went into the fourth straight day on Saturday in Los Angeles city. Thousands of protesters on Saturday afternoon took to the streets of the downtown Fairfax District, home to some shopping streets with boutiques and specialty stores, to express their anger over the killing of the unarmed Minnesota black man by a white police officer.
But the demonstration turned into riots later.
Video clips posted online showed that the storefront windows and ATM machines on the street there were broken, and that an Adidas flagship store, a two-floor Nordstrom department store and a Ray-Ban sunglasses flagship boutique had been looted.
Policemen are seen during a massive street protest over the killing of George Floyd in Los Angeles, the United States, May 30, 2020. (Xinhua)
"This is no longer a protest," Garcetti told the NBC4 news Saturday night. "This is vandalism. This is destruction."
Local media said about 1,000 National Guard members were expected to be on the scene starting around midnight to help restore order.
More than 530 people were arrested Friday night and early Saturday after protests turned violent in downtown Los Angeles, according to the Los Angeles Police Department. ■