May 31, 2020

“It Sounds Like a War Zone Down Here”— On the Ground at Demonstrations Sunday Night

Our reporters were in DC and Minneapolis.

Police form a line on H Street as demonstrators gather to protest the death of George Floyd, Sunday, May 31, 2020, near the White House in Washington. Alex Brandon, AP

Fight disinformation: Sign up for the free Mother Jones Daily newsletter and follow the news that matters.

For the sixth-straight day, demonstrators took to the streets across the country Sunday to protest systemic police brutality and racism following the police killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis on Memorial Day. The Washington Post reports, “Police arrested more than 2,500 people in two dozen U.S. cities over the weekend.” But that was before Sunday night was over.

On Sunday, Washington, D.C., joined the 40 cities that have imposed curfews, aiming to stem the violent turn the demonstrations have taken over the weekend. As our colleague Nathalie Baptiste reported, “Police officers in cities around the country responded to protesters with egregious tactics, from unprovoked violent shoving to indiscriminate pepper spraying.”

Mother Jones’ Julia Lurie has been reporting on the protests on the ground in Minneapolis, and Stephanie Mencimer and Will Peischel were on the scene in D.C. Here’s what they’ve seen.

After a day of peaceful protests in DC, as night fell, thousands of protesters gathered on the streets near the White House. A few hours ago, Mayor Muriel Bowser announced an 11 p.m. curfew and activated the National Guard to assist D.C. police.

 

WE'LL BE BLUNT:

We need to start raising significantly more in donations from our online community of readers, especially from those who read Mother Jones regularly but have never decided to pitch in because you figured others always will. We also need long-time and new donors, everyone, to keep showing up for us.

In "It's Not a Crisis. This Is the New Normal," we explain, as matter-of-factly as we can, what exactly our finances look like, how brutal it is to sustain quality journalism right now, what makes Mother Jones different than most of the news out there, and why support from readers is the only thing that keeps us going. Despite the challenges, we're optimistic we can increase the share of online readers who decide to donate—starting with hitting an ambitious $300,000 goal in just three weeks to make sure we can finish our fiscal year break-even in the coming months.

Please learn more about how Mother Jones works and our 47-year history of doing nonprofit journalism that you don't find elsewhere—and help us do it with a donation if you can. We've already cut expenses and hitting our online goal is critical right now.

payment methods

WE'LL BE BLUNT

We need to start raising significantly more in donations from our online community of readers, especially from those who read Mother Jones regularly but have never decided to pitch in because you figured others always will. We also need long-time and new donors, everyone, to keep showing up for us.

In "It's Not a Crisis. This Is the New Normal," we explain, as matter-of-factly as we can, what exactly our finances look like, how brutal it is to sustain quality journalism right now, what makes Mother Jones different than most of the news out there, and why support from readers is the only thing that keeps us going. Despite the challenges, we're optimistic we can increase the share of online readers who decide to donate—starting with hitting an ambitious $300,000 goal in just three weeks to make sure we can finish our fiscal year break-even in the coming months.

Please learn more about how Mother Jones works and our 47-year history of doing nonprofit journalism that you don't elsewhere—and help us do it with a donation if you can. We've already cut expenses and hitting our online goal is critical right now.

payment methods

We Recommend

Latest

Sign up for our free newsletter

Subscribe to the Mother Jones Daily to have our top stories delivered directly to your inbox.

Get our award-winning magazine

Save big on a full year of investigations, ideas, and insights.

Subscribe

Support our journalism

Help Mother Jones' reporters dig deep with a tax-deductible donation.

Donate