June 2 George Floyd protest news

Peaceful protesters demonstrating in New York City today expressed their frustrations with the current state of the country.

“We can’t live like this anymore,” a protester told CNN’s Shimon Prokupecz.

“That’s not just for black folks, it’s for everyone. We cannot live like this anymore and will fight till the end, until we can have our peace. No justice. No peace,” the protester said.

She held a sign with pictures of Danroy "D.J." Henry Jr., an African-American football player at Pace University who was shot by a white New York police officer.

“Every demonstration is important. I’m not going to say it’s important to have the peaceful ones and not the peaceful ones. All of them are important. Every single one is important until people can hear us. People know who we are… People like this, D.J. Henry, are important. George Floyd was important. Trayvon Martin was important. Mike Brown was important. These people are all important… We can't forget about them,” the protester said.

Watch the full interview here:

Most Republican senators ignored or declined to comment on last night’s peaceful protest at the White House, which was forcefully cleared out for President Trump's photo-op at St. John's church.

However, several GOP senators fiercely defended Trump’s church visit as “important” and said moving protesters was not an abuse of power. 

Here's what lawmakers are saying:

Other GOP senators said they didn’t see what happened.  

“I didn’t watch it closely enough to know what happened there,” said Sen. Mitt Romney of Utah. 

“I didn’t really see it,” Sen. Ron Johnson of Wisconsin said.

Most senators ignored questions about last night’s events or declined to comment, including Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, Sen. Pat Roberts of Kansas, Sen. Kelly Loeffler of Georgia, Sen. Mike Enzi of Wyoming, Sen. Dan Sullivan of Alaska, Sen. Marsha Blackburn of Tennessee and Sen. Todd Young of Indiana.

The Ohio National Guard sent 100 trained soldiers to Washington, DC, following a request from the Secretary of Defense, Major General John Harris announced today.

Since Washington, DC, doesn’t have a governor, the Secretary of Defense fills that role, and requested that the Guard come to DC to lend support by providing security at the White House and critical monuments, as well as protecting businesses, said Harris with the Ohio National Guard. 

The Ohio National Guard has also been called to Columbus and Cleveland by the mayors of those cities to assist with the protests taking place there. 

Harris said their mission in those cities include crowd control, doing traffic control points, and supporting local law enforcement agencies “with minimum force necessary to complete the mission.”

Los Angeles County, the nation’s most populous with approximately 10 million residents, will be under curfew for a third straight night.

The curfew is in effect from 6 p.m. local time Tuesday until 6 a.m. local time Wednesday.

Essential workers, people seeking medical treatment, and residents voting in special elections are exempt from the curfew.

Some cities within L.A. County have stricter curfews.

A curfew in Santa Monica, California, starts at 2 p.m. local time and ends at 5:30 a.m. local time Wednesday.

Read the tweet:

The Department of Defense has raised the level of security conditions at the Pentagon and other Defense facilities in the Capital region to the second highest, according to two US Defense officials. 

The level is called force protection condition “Charlie” — also known as FPCON CHARLIE — and the officials said the Pentagon went from force protection condition Bravo to Charlie because of overall concerns about vandalism amid civil unrest. 

US Northern Command, which oversees military operations in the continental United States, changed the force protection condition. 

What this level means: According to the US Army, “FPCON Charlies applies when an incident occurs or intelligence is received indicating some form of terrorist action or targeting against personnel or facilities is likely.”

The increased condition will further result in increased security, including additional identity checks at defense facilities.

Earlier in the day, chief Pentagon spokesperson Jonathan Hoffman said there had been increase in force protection condition.

“We have increased the force protection level in the MCR, basically the Pentagon reservation and other facilities in the NCR. This is a modest increase. For the most part we have been at that level to some extent. And so some changes happened. Not dramatic,” Hoffman said.

A large police presence was visible outside City Hall in New York City as crowds gathered to demand justice over the killing of George Floyd.

Chanting "Black Lives Matter," protesters marched from Foley Square to the mayor's office with police helicopters flying above.

The demonstration comes after a night of violence in the city that saw widespread looting. Speaking earlier in the day, New York Gov. Cuomo condemned the violence, calling out the city's police and mayor for not doing their job.

“The police in New York City were not effective at doing their job last night, period, they have to do a better job,” Cuomo said.

The governor acknowledged that most of the city's protests have been peaceful and urged protesters to maintain peace and take the necessary precautions amid the coronavirus pandemic.

The owner of Cup Foods, the store whose employee called the police on George Floyd, says he and his employees will no longer be calling police when people try and use fake bills at his store.   

Abumayyaleh, who was not present at the store at the time of Floyd's arrest, said even though it is state policy to call the police in the case of counterfeit bills, police "have shown time and time again that they do not know how to peacefully handle conflicts in our community."  

Abumayyaleh said his nephew, who was present at the time of Floyd's arrest, was yelling at the police to stop and was pushed back by one of the officers, according to the Facebook post.   

Abumayyaleh expressed his support of the Floyd family and said he is donating money to help pay for Floyd's funeral. Abumayyaleh also called on his community to continue advocating for the end of "institutional racism" and police brutality.  

"We will continue fighting with our South Minneapolis community until justice is served, not only for George Floyd, Ahmaud Arbery, and Breonna Taylor, but for everybody who is affected by police violence in our country," Abumayyaleh said.  

Attorney General William Barr thanked local DC police, military leaders and federal law enforcement agents for "significant progress in restoring order to the nation’s capital" in a statement released Tuesday.

"There will be even greater law enforcement resources and support in the region tonight. The most basic function of government is to provide security for people to live their lives and exercise their rights, and we will meet that responsibility here in the nation’s capital," he said. 

Read the statement:

Philadelphia Police Commissioner Danielle Outlaw addressed reports of vigilante law enforcement in the city and said, "We do not endorse or condone any form of vigilante justice.”

Asked about vigilante groups who were allowed to stay out past curfew, and why there was a disparity between them and others arrested after curfew, Philadelphia Mayor Jim Kenney said, "I don't know but we're going to find out."

Outlaw and Kenney continued to defend the use of tear gas on protesters who went on to the interstate and the mayor characterized it as a "last resort." 

Kenney called the incident where an officer allegedly pulled down a protester's mask and used pepper spray "totally unacceptable."

The Bureau of Alcohol Tobacco and Firearms is taking the lead on the investigation into ATM explosions, according to Outlaw.

"We're working with the ATF who is taking the lead on these investigations to figure out exactly who is behind this. We believe that (they are) organized efforts, and coordinated efforts as well.”

Philadelphia Police tweeted today that there have been a total of 692 arrests from noon on Saturday until 9 a.m. ET today.

Here's the tweet: