UPDATE - Several Participants In George Floyd Protest In New York City Detained

NEW YORK (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 31st May, 2020) Police in New York City have detained several demonstrators taking part in the Saturday George Floyd protest after they broke the windows of a police van and attacked officers, a Sputnik correspondent reports.

The protesters have been marching from Harlem to central Manhattan. They have broken the windows of a police van that was monitoring the situation, after which police officers arrived on the scene.

The officers blocked the protesters on Times Square. In response to that, the protesters threw water bottles at law enforcement officers. Several people were detained.

The protesters then turned to Eighth Avenue and headed for southern Manhattan. The movement of cars is hampered.

A group of protesters blocked the FDR Drive on the east side of Manhattan, sitting in the middle of the street with banners saying "No Justice - No Peace" and "Black Lives Matter." Police watched from nearby. Drivers stuck in traffic appeared to be supporting the protesters by honking their car horns, according to a Sputnik correspondent.

According to local media reports, on Saturday morning, the New York City Police Department (NYPD) temporarily suspended all solo police patrols in the city.

Protests erupted in various cities across the United States this week after George Floyd, an African-American man, died in police custody on Monday. He was detained outside the Cup Foods corner store in Minneapolis on Monday evening, after a store clerk called the police claiming that Floyd had paid for cigarettes with a counterfeit $20 bill.

A video circulating online shows Derek Chauvin, a Minneapolis white police officer, pinning unarmed Floyd to the ground with his knee; Floyd repeatedly says that he cannot breathe until becoming unresponsive. Chauvin has been charged with third-degree murder and second-degree manslaughter. A total of four police officers have been fired in connection with the incident.

US President Donald Trump warned on Saturday that if the unrest continues in US cities, then the Federal government would step in and the military would be used. Speaking at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida, Trump said the death of George Floyd was a grave tragedy but warned against surrendering to hostility. Trump stressed that every US citizen has the right to be safe in their workplace, home and city streets.