People stand outside the Minneapolis police 3rd Precinct building after fires were set. Photo / AP
Video filmed inside the charred Minneapolis Police Third Precinct building reveals the scale of the protest carnage in Minneapolis as protests spread to other US cities including Phoenix, Denver and New York.
Hundreds took to the streets in Minneapolis on Thursday night US time for the third night of protests that torched parts of the city and left shop windows smashed.
Footage filmed by freelance journalist Jared Goyette inside the burned-out police station shows sirens blaring and sprinklers raining down overhead.
Here Forrest Mcclarron, 32, describes the night. "I would describe it as unity, it's beautiful..." pic.twitter.com/IXX5KXDdxj
Seven people were shot in Louisville, Kentucky, as protesters there converted on City Hall to demand justice over the death of Breonna Taylor, a black woman who was shot in March when police broke down her door.
In Phoenix, Arizona, protesters carried signs reading "Silence is violence" and "Being black should not be a death sentence" as rocks and bottles were thrown at police and rubber bullets and pepper spray returned.
In Columbus, Ohio, about 400 people entered a standoff with police blocking an intersection.
In New York, 72 people were arrested after defying a ban on social gatherings to rally in Manhattan.
People met in Union Square and marched shouting "I can't breathe" and waving signs with slogans including "Police brutality and murder must stop."
Police said one officer was hit with a rubbish can and another punched, and one protester was clubbed by police.
In Denver, protesters blocked traffic and smashed cars as police fired guns and teargas, despite Mayor Michael Hancock calling for calm.
"I certainly understand everyone's frustration and sense of pain and disgust following the murder of George Floyd in Minneapolis," he said on Twitter. "But I want to plead to everyone. Let's demonstrate, but let's demonstrate peacefully. Leave the weapons home."
In Petal, Mississippi, mayor Hal Marx refused to resign after saying he "didn't see anything unreasonable" about police behaviour after a white officer was filmed kneeling on the neck of black man, George Floyd before he died.
"If you can say you can't breathe, you're breathing. Most likely that man died of overdose or heart attack. Video doesn't show his resistance that got him in that position. Police being crucified," he said.
Hennepin County Attorney Mike Freeman later announced Derek Chauvin had been charged with third-degree murder and manslaughter.