June 2, 2020 / Riskline Informer

Uprising: anti-police brutality protests in the United States

In the first in a series of articles examining racial discrimination, police brutality and mass protesting, we look at the George Floyd protests as the latest – and unlikely to be the last – episode in the history of a country gripped by violence sparked by police killings of people of colour.

On 25 May, George Floyd, a 49-year-old African American man, died during his arrest in Minneapolis, Minnesota. A video captured by a bystander showed a police officer keeping his knee on Floyd’s throat for nearly nine minutes, as Floyd expressed his distress and subsequently fell unconscious. The incident intensified tensions between police and the local community, which saw Floyd as the latest victim in a pattern of police violence against people of colour. The outrage culminated in demonstrations and unrest spreading nationwide on an even larger scale than the 2014 Ferguson unrest, the last major series of protests and riots that erupted over the fatal shooting of an 18-year-old African-American man by a police officer in Missouri.

While the demonstration condemning Floyd’s death began peacefully on 26 May, the protests spiralled into clashes with police by the end of the day, with riot police using tear gas and stun grenades in an attempt to disperse protesters. Following demonstrations, multiple establishments, including the 3rd Police Precinct and a nearby Target store, were torched, vandalised or looted in the ensuing unrest overnight, while outrage over Floyd’s death simultaneously spread to other cities. By early June, both solidarity demonstrations and violence were seen in nearly every major city across the country, including Washington, D.C., Atlanta, Chicago, New York City, Portland, Philadelphia, Los Angeles and San Francisco, while rallies were also held abroad in cities as far as Montreal, Toronto, London, Barcelona, Berlin, Amsterdam and Rio de Janeiro. The National Guard was called up in over 10 states, while local officials suspended public transport and imposed overnight curfews, which many protesters defied.

While racial tension and police brutality are familiar elements that drove previous large-scale protests, there are also new factors that inflame tensions. Despite the unrest continuing for a week, there has been no call for peace from the White House. In a call with governors, President Donald Trump instead called on governors to “dominate” protesters with a hardline response, encouraging clashes to continue. While previous high-profile deaths spurred calls for police reform and the Black Lives Matter movement against systemic racism and violence against people of colour, the lack of action being taken to defuse the tension driving the current unrest undermines the little progress that was made in an effort to prevent another instance of police brutality from being repeated.

The outrage over the death of George Floyd showed how one incident can catalyse unrest across the country by intensifying underlying social tensions. In a matter of days, large-scale rallies were held in nearly every US state. The movement that began peacefully escalated to a level that left local officials and police in every major city struggling to contain the unrest and restore calm. The recent protests underscore widespread distrust in government institutions on a local and national level, despite body cameras and other results of limited police reform that have been implemented since 2014. Calling for an end to the violence without a plan to address its cause, officials proved ill-prepared and ineffective in curbing the violence and regaining the public’s trust. The George Floyd protests are the latest – and unlikely to be the last – episode in the history of the country being gripped by violence sparked by police brutality against people of colour.

Riskline Travel Search API
Vital information for trip booking with Travel Search API
Share This
Continue Reading

Travellers are safer when they stay informed

Riskline Alert Messaging operates all day, every day. Each alert contains essential intelligence, practical advice and precise geographic data about risks to traveller safety or impacts on travel plans. When we are able to get advanced warning, notices are also issued for events happening in the future.
Riskline Informer
Keep informed of key developments around the world.

Get prepared before you travel

Riskline Pre-Travel Advisories (PTAs) are exactly what a traveller needs to know about their destination before they leave home. Each report is a concise summary of the security and travel safety situation for any destination, and can be sent straight to travellers’ emails.

Let our experts show you how Riskline can keep you informed.

Everything your travellers need to know before they travel

Riskline’s TravelPrep provides important safety information directly to travellers, empowering them to travel safer and smarter.
Let our experts show you how Riskline can keep you informed.

Risk ratings you can build a travel policy around

Riskline has detailed assessments for more than 225 countries and territories around the world. Each report has an easy-to-understand Risk Level™ that can be integrated into travel policies and other business operations. Risk assessments include an overview of the security and travel safety situation in a country, and detailed analysis of the political, terrorism, conflict, unrest, crime, natural, health and local transport risks.
Let our experts show you how Riskline can keep you informed.

Know more about where you actually go

We assess the safety of more than 250 global cities, assigning each a clear Risk Level. In addition to city-specific threats and other local knowledge, every report has a map of important locations down to street level.
Use Cases
See how our City Safety Reports can help keep your travellers safe.

People make better decisions when they have the full picture

Advisories are detailed assessments of ongoing security situations and travel issues. We publish reports for high-risk geographic areas, political and security crises, persisting travel disruptions and major upcoming events, such as elections and international sporting competitions.
Let our experts show you how Riskline can keep you informed.

Covid-19 travel advice at your fingertips

Don’t let COVID-19 confusion get in the way of your customers’ decisions. Give them a tool at their fingertips that lets them see the implications of Covid on their travel plans and how best to prepare for their trip. TravelCheck displays up to date risk and infection scores, at-a-glance information on their destination and need-to-know information on departure, in-flight and arrival.

It’s easy to customise your widget with your own brand colour and poster image, to seamlessly integrate it into your website.

Our simple Javascript installation will get you up and running in no time. A few lines of code is all it takes to install the widget, with 2 display modes available – inline for embedding into a single page, or modal for a floating, site-wide travel assistant.

Interested in trying our TravelCheck widget? Get in touch.

Helping travellers manage Covid-19 disruptions

We have closely tracked developments associated with COVID-19 since late 2019, gathering detailed information on entry and exit requirements, You can get our real-time COVID-19 intelligence via alerts, API, microsite, and the TravelCheck widget.
Let our experts show you how Riskline can keep you informed.

The right guidance for specific needs

Not all travellers are the same. Riskline’s Specific Traveller Advice includes country-specific information tailored for LGBTQ+ travellers, female travellers and tech-dependent travellers.

Riskline Informer
Keep informed of key developments around the world.

Keep Informed

Get the latest Riskline Informer news delivered to your inbox.