Protest arrests top 10,000 nationwide: AP

More than 10,000 people have been arrested nationwide in the protests that have gripped the nation since the death of George Floyd in police custody in Minneapolis last week, according to an Associated Press tally.

More than a quarter of those arrests have been in Los Angeles, with the second-highest number occurring in New York, followed by Dallas and Philadelphia.

Although hundreds of people have been arrested on burglary and looting charges, a large number of arrests were for low-level offenses such as curfew violation or failure to disperse, according to the AP analysis.

The analysis also casts some doubt on Minnesota officials’ contention that the original unrest in Minneapolis was the work of outside agitators.

The AP found that in a 24-hour period last weekend, 41 of 52 people with protest-related arrests in the city had a Minnesota driver’s license. About 86 percent of the more than 400 people arrested in Washington, D.C., as of Wednesday afternoon were from the District, Maryland or Virginia.

The AP did not have access to data on how many of the people arrested were taken to jails, which have been hot spots for the coronavirus, an increasing concern due to police use of chemical irritants that can cause respiratory issues.

A Los Angeles-based online fundraiser has taken in about $2 million thus far to go toward bail and court costs for protesters.

Floyd, an unarmed black man, was killed in police custody in Minneapolis last week after a police officer knelt on his neck for several minutes while Floyd protested he could not breathe.

That officer, Derek Chauvin, was initially the only officer arrested, but Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison (D) announced yesterday that the three other officers at the scene would also face charges.