At the beginning of last week, news of the May 25 Minneapolis police killing of George Floyd dominated headlines as black America came to grips with the latest in a string of video-recorded violence.
Sunday, the wave of violence hit Boston, when protestors leaving a gathering at the State House fanned out into Downtown Crossing, some smashing store windows and throwing rocks and water bottles at police officers.
The demonstrations in Boston and around the U.S. came after Minneapolis police fired officer Derek Chauvin who kneeled on Floyd’s neck, suffocating him, and three officers who stood by and did not intervene in the killing.
That frustration was on display last week when demonstrators forced their way into a Minneapolis police precinct and set the building on fire.
For police officers who have responded to the last six years of demonstrations with the same paramilitary tactics, tear gas, and rubber-coated steel bullets used on protesters in the streets of Hong Kong and in Palestine, the sight of the burning precinct seemed to elicit a more violent response to the anti-police violence demonstrators.
