we have seen officials move in. we have seen various levels of law enforcement trying to disperse the crowd. this is an nbc news special report. i'm chris jansing, bringing you a special report on nbc news and msnbc. another night of protests across the country. many of which may face orders to disperse very soon. a curfew took effect in minneapolis one hour ago. but, in just the last couple of minutes, we have seen police there firing teargas at protestors, heightened tensions in a city that is now in its fourth night of protests following the death of george floyd. and minneapolis is where we find msnbc weekend anchor ali velshi,

who has been here throughout. and, ali, what an escalation we have seen play out over the last couple of hours, and even the last couple of minutes. what's going on where you are, ali? >> chris, we were walking with a group that had been assembled in front of the 5th precinct. they started marching as soon as the -- the curfew was imposed. and entirely 100% peaceful march. we walked several miles with them. we were toward the back of the group. we weren't in the front of the group. and, suddenly, in an intersection in front of us, with about two-thirds of the group in front of us, and about a third including us behind, state police and a number of cars, supported by national guard, moved into the intersection, got out, and began firing, entirely unprovoked, at the group. they started firing teargas and projectiles. i took -- i took one of them to my leg. what appeared to be a rubber bullet. but it -- it -- they were shooting at people. they were shooting teargas out there. the crowd has now gone the other

direction now. this direction here is where we started from. the 5th precinct. we understand that there is national guard at that location. above us, there are -- there was a helicopter flying. it's a national guard helicopter. a blackhawk. so we don't know what's going on right now. did serve to dissipate the march, but i can't say this enough. i've said it, probably, every time i've been on tv. this was a 100% peaceful march. and -- and the police opened fire into it. there was no reason to do so. there was zero provocation. there wasn't a presence of police. they, literally, pulled in a number of cars into an intersection, and opened fire with rubber bullets and with -- with teargas and flash bang grenades. so, for now, there were thousands of people here. some of them are that side. that side of the police. many of them have now gone back. you can see the street is now empty. but a peaceful march, fired into, by the police. chris. >> was there any warning at all?

i realize you're only one person. and you're only in one location. but was there anything -- >> zero. >> zero? >> no. zero. last night, there was a 15-minute warning. there were -- there were announcements from the police to say this is an illegal assembly. you will be arrested. there was nothing, whatsoever. literally, i don't know how far we were from the intersection. suddenly -- i actually just pointed to evan who's with us. he is our security detail and i said what's that? those police cars? and they pulled in. they got out of the car as if they were responding to an active situation. they lined up on the street, and started firing. they stopped for a while. a few people from the crowd did decide to push further into the crowd. and they fired at them. but we were well behind. in fact, i was behind a car. i don't know how exactly they -- they succeeded in hitting me. but they were firing and those projectiles go a long way. after a few minutes, the protestors realized they were not going to win that running battle.

teargas. i didn't get my mask on in time. we typically know when things like this are going to happen. you see the police. you see them putting masks on so you know gas is coming. we didn't see any of that. they hit us with the gas. i didn't get a chance to put the mask on. i was sort of dealing with that, and then i took the shot to the leg. so -- but everybody else seems to be okay. i did see a couple people getting hit. mostly, the teargas just makes your eyes burn. and -- and your throat burn. and that seems to have dissipated. we had some people who were putting milk on their face to clear up. but it did achieve the -- the aim of getting that march to disperse. i just want to remind everybody, it was a peaceful march. there was nothing else going on. chris. >> one of the things that we have seen and -- and this isn't the first time or the first city today, in which we've seen teargas, is that people seem to stay. they seemed almost oblivious to it or at least they were willing -- and i know what teargas feels like. you unfortunately much more recently, in the last few

minutes, know what it feels like. it's a very unpleasant sensation. was there intensity to this that made people run? what -- what can you tell us about the feeling at that moment? >> so the thing that i have been saying for the last few nights here is the discipline with which the police and the national guard have acted. it seems to have been a strategic decision not to engage with protestors. and i felt like that was continuing tonight. now, remember, last night, we had 500 national guard officers. i think they upped it to 700. today, they had a thousand. today, the governor enacted every last national guard member in the state. that's 13,000. i don't know how many were on the street. we heard the national guard presence was tripled on the street tonight. so the police have a lot more national guard support. but i'm telling you, chris, this looked like an emergency action. the police came out of nowhere. got into a line. and started shooting. there was -- there was -- it wasn't like they were on the side, monitoring the group to see if there was any violence. there wasn't any violence.

they just fired in to disperse the crowd. i've been watching this in louisville. i have been watching it in other parts of the country. it didn't happen here. this is the first time we saw it. >> ali velshi, we are glad you're okay, and we thank you so much. you and your crew stay safe, please. let's go now to miami-dade county, to miami city in particular. there have been mandatory curfews downtown. there has also been a few protests that have turned violent. let's go to nbc news correspondent sam brock on the scene. sam, what's been happening where you are? >> chris, good evening. this is sort of the inverse of what ali was just describing. out here, everything had been peaceful. and then, there was provocation after about seven or eight hours of peaceful protests. protestors came out here, started jumping on police vehicles. you'll see this one is all smashed up. there is a car burning over my shoulder to the left here as well. and recently, they were bating police officers, standing just inches away from them. and that prompted, chris, a

higher unit, a special-response unit, to come on in for reinforcement. so now, you are seeing multiple lines. you got all these guys over my shoulder here. they've been there for most of the night. you have another set of police officers, standing there with shields and riot gear, making sure that there's no aggression on that side of the police department. and let me show you something else, chris. right here, this is a piece of concrete. it's been flung by protestors from across the street at police officers. that's part of what explains the chain of reaction that's going on right now. now, in terms of where we stand right now, within the last 15 or 20 minutes, these officers stood with their shields and their high weapons and batons, and walked this way and pushed the crowd back. it has since dispersed. we're not seeing anyone really except for a couple people sort of standing around right now. but, chris, in a situation that obviously is very volatile. after seven or eight hours of peaceful protest, from the torch of friendship in miami, which is symbolic of bringing immigrants into this country. where this all started today. it totally evolved and

unfortunately devolved in front of the miami police department, into something that was much more violent and filled with teargas. as ali said, they dispersed that a second ago. it does not feel good. it did do the trick this evening, right now, though, in pushing people away that were threatening officers over my shoulder. >> does this comport, in the way this is playing out, sam, with what police said they were planning to do today? >> it did, initially, chris. the mayor of miami, frances suarez, came out. he tweeted at about 1 or 2:00 this afternoon. there will not be miami police in riot gear, which is exactly what you are seeing over my shoulder right now. just protest peacefully. you have the right to assembly. do it, is basically what he told people here. we know the difficulties between the police community and communities of color in miami. there are riots that go back 40 or 50 years. we all know about that. just be peaceful to get your

image and your message across. that's what was happening. and then, i interviewed three or four people who basically me they were out here for hours standing on one knee like this, symbolizing what the police officer who killed george floyd was doing. but then all of a sudden, it's like someone turned on a switch, chris. there were four people jumping on top of a police car, set it on fire, and that catalyzed this entire chain of events that quickly moved in a completely different direction. chris. >> sam brock, we're seeing a little bit of activity behind you. that's -- that's very minimal. how long has it been since we've really seen some sort of major activity where you are? how long has this situation been the way it is now? >> i would say this has been within the last 15 or 20 minutes that things have started to calm down. the turning point, chris, was when the special-response team came in, and added to the ranks

here. there were probably 20, 24, police officers on scene. miami police officers. that, quickly, expanded to probably 50 to 100. they pushed the line all the way across the street in the other direction. and now you're not seeing as many people here. we are still getting reports, right now, chris of looting going on at the park where people were protesting earlier today. officers are out there on bikes right now arresting some people that are looting. but in terms of the activity here, just the pure tension that was in the air. i watched as sirens were going off. cars we smoke was billowing today. that has died down probably in the last 15 or 20 minutes. >> sam brock, thank you very much. i believe that we can go back to minneapolis. i believe we have morgan chesky, who is there as well. do we have morgan in minneapolis now? the picture we're looking at is los angeles. los angeles has been the scene of quite a bit -- there we go. let's go back to morgan chesky.

morgan, very different scene than i saw you at an hour ago. tell me what's been going on where you are, in minneapolis. >> well, we just had to reposition because state police, in conjunction with minneapolis pd, is starting to enforce very strict perimeter. and they are actually enforcing that curfew tonight that went into effect at 8:00 p.m. central standard time. and we are just on the other side of a bridge to give authorities a wide because just beyond this bridge, we are seeing dozens of cruisers start to advance on any remaining crowd that's in place. ace. still fresh... ♪ unstopables in-wash scent booster ♪ downy unstopables

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don't attempt to adjust your set. you are looking at america, live, right now as the nation protests police brutality. now, you are looking at los

angeles. one of many scenes in which the police and protestors have been in a number of standoffs. some of these standoffs have been more intense, more dramatic, than others. we saw some fires burning at a popul popular mall called the grove. earlier tonight, we saw a group of protestors literally chase the police down the street, down beverly boulevard, and back them up off the street. it's been a very kinetic night. i'm joshua johnson, alongside our correspondents across the country. we will try to keep you as informed as we can. as we, also, keep them out of harms way. los angeles, minneapolis, have been some of the more kinetic scenes. miami has also been very busy. nbc's sam brock is in miami and has a little bit more information for us. sam, when we were speaking a moment ago, you were telling us about how they were able to manage some of the unrest near miami police headquarters. actually, now, we're taking a look at washington, d.c. what you are looking at, i believe, is lafayette square, which is right outside of the

white house. it's just to the north of the white house. here's another look back at los angeles. trying to determine exactly where this is. i believe this is in the same area where the protests were earlier. we had been seeing protests yesterday more in downtown los angeles. today, the protests moved a little bit away from there along beverly boulevard. one of the main arteries. just a little ways out from downtown los angeles. been seeing a number of scenes like -- i'm hearing sam brock on the line. sam, in miami, are you with us? >> hi, josh. i'm here. >> you were describing, earlier, about how the police were able to kind of ease some of the tension with some protestors who were throwing big chunks of concrete at them. we saw a large military-looking vehicle behind you. because of how law enforcement in south florida has militarized

so much, i'm not sure who that is. is that national guard? is that miami-dade county police? is that the broward sheriff's office? do we know who else is providing mutual aid where you are? >> it's a great question, joshua. we do. it's the miami-dade special-response team. it looks, very much, like a s.w.a.t. unit might. we just saw, probably, about 50 of them coming here within the last 30 minutes or so. sweep through the street i'm standing at. this is miami police over my shoulder. although, these forces have been beefed up. a couple dozen or so, i'd say as many as 30. where i am standing right now, a tunnel essentially, joshua, of teargas being fired. it looked like things were coming down. then, protestors were standing right where i am right now, taunting these officers for whatever purpose or whatever message they were trying to get across, that did evoke a response because then, they came

out with riot gear and shields. pushed them back. fired more teargas in this direction. which you are seeing over my left shoulder here. some of those folks were jumping on top of the police car. this car right here, which has an unfortunate epithet on it directed toward police. they were stomping on that car, right after another car had already been burning for hours over my shoulder in that parking lot. that's what provoked additional police response. they, very professionally, pushed them back. did fire gas to try to disperse the crowd and eventually that's what happened down the street where i am standing. but it took reinforcements of essentially a s.w.a.t. team with high-level ar tillttillery, joso calm the tensions right here. >> my colleague tweeted not too long ago that there is a local state of emergency declaration in miami-dade county. miami-dade county under a curfew that took effect at 10:00 p.m. eastern tonight. so about 19 minutes ago.

that will last until 6:00, tomorrow morning. and he cites the burning of police cars, where you are, sam, as part of the reason for that. one of his tweets reads, quote, i wholeheartedly support peaceful protest. 100%. but one they get into lawlessness, there is zero tolerance, unquote. that curfew applies countywide so residents from florida city right up to aventura must abide by that. from the ocean to the everglades is supposed to be off the streets. but, sam, where you are, is a part of miami where there are protests and demonstrations all the time. either at baseside marketplace which i think is due east of where you are. or havana. you get to southwest eighth street. there is a very well-known cuban restaurant where there were a number of political protests over the years. do we have any sense of what the rest of miami and miami-dade county and south florida look

like, compared to what you're seeing at miami pd headquarters? >> scattered. and by the way, joshua, as we speak, we are now seeing a couple officers sprinting off to my side here. i'm not sure what they are going to quell now to that point. there could have been another outbreak. obviously, people are very angry. and i apologize if you are hearing any bad language right now, joshua. in terms of the construct right now, we do know that there are people who have been looting at bayside. which is ironic because that's exactly where these protestors were earlier, peacefully protesting, for some four, five, or six hours. and to your earlier point, joshua, about what this was going to look like tonight, what it was supposed to look like, c carlos jimenez only instituted that curfew at 8:30 tonight. which means they weren't expecting this level of violence. i think that's a reasonable inference to make. it is also fair to say the mayor of miami came out and said that he does not want police to be in riot gear.

they are in riot gear right now and that may just be a function of the fact that this became violent in a way no one was expecting. in terms of the layout i'm standing, i am not seeing a lot of people in this area right now. but we do know there have been reports of looting going on at bayside and other parts of the city. joshua. >> thank you, sam. nbc's sam brock joining us just along i 95 in miami. let's head now to washington. nbc's garrett haake is standing by near lafayette square, which was the site of those protests if you were watching us last night. with some of the protestors with police guarding the white house. garrett, what's happening now? has it calmed down a bit? >> no, joshua. it's sort of the same nervous standoff that we've seen for the last couple of hours here. more people continue to arrive. more police from various agencies. i don't know how well you can see behind me. but there's u.s. park police, i believe secret service on the streets. off camera from here, metropolitan police. that's the standard d.c. police

department. they all work in conjunction when there are major protests around the city. and i want to be really clear. we're still very much in the protest category here. by and large, this assembly going on since about 4:00 this afternoon, has been largely peaceful. at times, what we have seen and with worryingly increasing frequency lately, are people in the crowd throwing bottles at the police. police officers then coming back out to the barricade to respond to them. it's been a tense situation all day long. there is no real sense of -- of, frankly, leadership here. this is the kind of thing where folks are furious. they are angry. they want to come out and express their anger. and it feels like they could be here all night long. there is no real effort at dialogue or deescalation by -- on the law enforcement side of this. we've not heard from much police. we've not heard much from the district's mayor since earlier this afternoon. we are just sort of in this now, joshua. and people are mad and they are going to come out here and

express themselves. and as we get later and later into the night. hopefully, continue to do so. again, with great emotion and with great anger, in many cases, but still peacefully. >> garrett, we should be clear about where you are. garrett is at lafayette square. the church you see off to his left is st. john's. that's where a lot of presidents will go to have service on the day of their inauguration, before all the festivities begin. on inauguration day, in the midst of all the festivities. garrett, where you are, the north side of the white house, on the other side would be the ellipse and the washington monument. >> that's right. >> where you are, there is a wall between lafayette square and the white house. they were already doing some work kind of building a new barrier there. so the police presence around lafayette square is there on a kind of regular basis, i believe? like, you could go there any day of the week and see that police presence. but tonight, it feels different, even having walked past there in my previous life as a reporter in d.c. and seeing people protesting,

holding up signs, yelling at the white house. so between the -- the -- the protests regarding police brutality and the existing protests about the trump administration, tonight just must feel a little bit -- little bit crazy. >> well, there's been a slow-motion escalation of the policing around the white house. the security concerns around the white house, really since 9/11. i mean, it used to be you could drive down pennsylvania avenue and pass the white house. that's no longer the case. the white house is making improvements to the fence. they want to make it stronger and taller and the president wants it to be this very daunting image around this white house. lafayette square park is often, as you said, a site of peaceful protests. i mean, the thing about d.c. is we've got a protest basically once a week in this town. i mean, pick your issue, pick your country, pick your foreign leader. that person has been protested here. and so, there is sort of almost a standard operating procedure. this definitely goes beyond

that. i mean, i'm standing here next to bike racks that were brought out here, and then zip tied together just within the last few hours, to create essentially an additional barrier as the security cordon around the white house has expanded, not just over the years but, over the course of the hours tonight. and we saw, earlier today, protest on the 17th and pennsylvania avenue side of it tonight. as you said, on h street and -- gosh, where am i now? h street and 16th right across from the church there. this has been going fairly continuously since about 6:30 tonight. and, you know, people are coming, participating for some period of time. they're coming and going. but it has been a robust, many hundreds or low thousands i would say of folks attending, just on this strip of land here on the north end of lafayette park. where i have to say, and i think you were getting to this point. protest is a proud tradition here. there is nothing more american than coming to washington, d.c. and yelling at your government.

and that's, certainly, happening in states here tonight. >> thank you, garrett. that's msnbc's garrett haake joining us from washington from lafayette square. just north of the white house. let's head back to brooklyn, new york, outside the barclay center. richard lui. what's the latest? >> hey, joshua. since we last spoke, you might be able to tell this crowd is now about four times the size. here at the barclay center and moved to the borough headquarters. they then turned around and grew in size to what you see here, at the barclay center. this crowd, last night, filled up the entire plaza. we are seeing what is, so far, some calm. they have this double cordon here. separating the protestors and the police officers. what we've seen is this has kind of been the focal chant.

this has been the chant. the faceoff. some of the signs here. i can't breathe. i see no change. black lives matter. over here, another sign. it is natural to want to have a future. alice walker. but let me take you through the crowd here because i want to show you something on this side. it's not only that the crowd is so deep but, on top of that, on the other side, which is the entrance to the barclay center. and they have decided not to focus on this side. but i believe you'll see the police force here. and the police force is both inside and outside. clearly, trying to protect what might be seen as the more valuable or more glass. but, instead, they are on the other side at the subway station. so, at the moment, this is probably about three different groups that came together in the last three or four hours.

one i spoke to an hour ago, that was a 15-minute-old group. they, then, joined in with a three-hour group. and we expect this to only increase in size. in terms of where they're going, will they leave the borough of brooklyn and head into manhattan, which is that way? we don't know. and i think that's how they are deciding. i've been speaking with some of the folks there. it really depends on the energy and the size of the crowd right now. there has been some reports, about 30 minutes up that way. 70 arrests and perhaps more, as well as some vehicles -- police vehicles that have been attacked. so, joshua, it is, as you can tell, very different this hour than it was last hour when you and i were talking. >> very, very different. and i'm kind of not surprised that they are guarding the subway more than the barclay center. i happened upon a protest last night kind of near where i live. kind of followed alongside them for about an hour. and near where the protest ended, sure enough, there were nypd officers kind of blocking the entrance to subway stations.

i guess, to kind of control ingress and egress, even though there was this crowd that walked to time square pretty much. about a 20 something block walk. richard lui, we'll get back to you in a little bit. do stay safe in brooklyn. let's go to former federal prosecutor and, paul, let me just divert a little bit from the protests. we will seep an eye on those, for sure. one thing i definitely wanted to ask you about is one of the things that the protestors have said they are upset about. and that's the charges that were brought against derek chauvin. third-degree murder, second-degree manslaughter. from my perspective, it sounds like the district attorney, mike freeman was trying to pick charges that will stick because it's exceptionally hard to convict a law enforcement officer of first, or even second, degree murder. now, that's what the family of george floyd says that they want. they have said it needs to be first-degree murder. what is your sense, as a

prosecutor, of what might be the most doable, in terms of actually securing a conviction? based, just on what we know right now. >> to win the case, i think the third-degree murder prosecution is the right move. it has to do with intent. so prosecutors want to win the case, obviously. the less you have to prove, the easier it is to persuade a jury, beyond a reasonable doubt. the concern about first-degree murder is that the prosecutors would have to prove that the officers intended to kill mr. floyd. now, a lot of people think that they did. they may well have. but, in terms of persuading 12 people from minneapolis that that's true, beyond a reasonable doubt, i think that's a daunting task. now, we know that, in part, because most prosecutions for murder of police officers are unsuccessful. less than a third wind up with

any conviction. and even when there is a conviction, it's usually for a lesser offense. and so i understand the concern. life imprisonment is the punishment for murder one. for murder three, it's 25 years. at the end of the day, a murderer is a murderer. a murder conviction is a murder conviction. when he goes to the big house, he's not going to say i'm in for murder 1, murder 2, or murder 3. he's going to say i'm in for murder. the other concern, really quickly, joshua, is what it would mean if they lose this case. what it would mean if they lose this case is that what the police did, when they snuffed out mr. floyd's life, is not a crime. and so, this is a case that's a have to win. and the way they win it, i think, is with this third-degree murder prosecution. >> professor butler, as we are looking at some of these pictures from los angeles, these

look like pictures from earlier told. near the area of beverly boulevard and fairfax avenue. the protestors, or at least a group of them, made their way north up fairfax. last i could see from the live pictures we were looking at, it seemed like they were continuing north, up fairfax, towards west hollywood and santa monica boulevard. what is your sense, professor, of the law enforcement strategy that's being used tonight? in a way, when i heard, you know, the various governors and -- and law enforcement officials talking about the national guard and curfews. in a way, it feels like an escalation of the extension on the street. on the other hand, they got to keep order. they got to maintain peace and quiet on the street as best they can. there was property damage last night. there was an incredible challenge, at least in minneapolis, of just getting fire and ems to where fires needed to be put out.

but this is a big response from law enforcement. how do you see it? >> so you asked me about the law enforcement strategy. what law enforcement strategy? it seems to change from day to day, and from place to place. so let's think about minneapolis, where we had that great reporting from ali. so what he said is that all of the protestors tonight were peaceful. there was no violence from protestors, at all. and what happened? the cops opened fire. they just started shooting those rubber bullets, that teargas, those flash grenades. and so, last night, in minneapolis, we had a riot maybe from some of the protestors. maybe from some outside agitators. joshua, tonight in minneapolis, we had a police riot. we have police who were enforcing curfew laws, enforcing the laws against marching without a permit.

and the way that they enforce those laws is to fire on peaceful demonstrators exercising their american constitutional right to petition the government, and to protest. so when you talk about restoring order in minneapolis, there's no order to restore. there has not been order in minneapolis or most other american cities for a long time. there was not order last night on the streets of minneapolis. there was not order tonight. and last monday, when four uniformed minneapolis officers extinguished the life of george floyd, there was certainly not order in the street that day. >> i should note, by the way, that president trump has been tweeting tonight. and he did reference the national guard presence in minnesota. the president tweeted about a half hour ago and i am quoting. the national guard has been released in minneapolis to do the job that the democrat mayor couldn't do. should've been used two days ago, and there would not have been damage and police headquarters would not have been

taken over and ruined. great job by the national guard. no games. unquote. president also tweeted let's let new york's finest, new york police, be new york's finest. there is nobody better but they must be allowed to do their job. both tweets from the president within the last minutes. you see the scene now in los angeles. let's head back to nbc's aaron mclaughlin. looks like the police are having a time just trying to keep order. >> here we go. hey there, aaron mclaughlin. go ahead. go ahead. >> i'm here at the fairfax district in los angeles. as you can see, this major thou thoroughfare has been completely cleared. hours ago, this was the scene of complete and utter chaos, as protestors faced off with police. police pushing them back this

way. firing rubber bullets as well as teargas. they have managed to disperse the crowds into pockets of surrounding neighborhoods. was triggered following what began as a relatively peaceful protest in the area. nearby park. midday. but, quickly, it devolved just a block over that way. we had seen car after car, vehicle after vehicle, police vehicles, totally smashed out. sprayed with graffiti. local shops smashed out, as well. and we are now hearing reports of a nail salon, just blocks away from melrose, completely lit on fire. we're 25 minutes away from the curfew that has been announced by the los angeles mayor. that nail salon fire, some saying, is perhaps a sign of the things to come as the night progresses. >> yeah, aaron, i was just going to ask you about that in terms of what we do expect when the curfew comes. from what we saw in minneapolis, there are plenty of people who

made an affirmative decision not to obey the curfew. but they were being quite nonviolent, they were disobeying police order to disperse but nonviolent. that is not what we've seen in los angeles. do you get the sense there is some worry about what might happen on the streets when the sun goes down? >> well, there's definite concern, especially when you consider what's played out in prior nights. over 500 people were arrested last night. cars lit on fire. plenty of violence and chaos unfolding in the streets. and just to give you a sense of how concerned the lapd is about this current situation, it's all hands on deck. they made the rare move of calling in all 10,000 personnel, people off their week ends, people pulled off their holiday, to come and manage this situation. to try and regain control. you could definitely tell they are preparing for the worst. meanwhile, i have been spoking

to protestors out here today. it has to be said many of those protestors were peaceful. i spoke to young men and women, 30 and under, and they were telling me that they realize being out here, given that the situation was labeled an unlawful assembly at that point later in the day, which essentially gives them two choices. be arrested or dispersed. and many of the young people that felt that they were peacefully expressing themselves told me they chose to be arrested if it came to that. >> thank you, erin. joining us from los angeles. and, by the way, i should note l.a.'s mayor eric garcetti tweeted in the last few -- well, about the last 40 minutes -- that the curfew, which had been intended for a few parts of los angeles, has been expanded to the entire city to keep safe. people in the city of los angeles are required to stay indoors tonight starting at 8:00 p.m. which is in about 20 minutes. until 5:30 a.m. sunday morning. traveling to and from work, seeking or giving emergency

care, and emergency responders are exempt. so the entire city of los angeles is under curfew. also, the neighboring city of culver city has declared a date of local emergency. beverly hills and hollywood, also imposing a curfew. the crowds that we saw in the area where there was a fire in the middle of the street. that's a little ways north from where we started earlier. kind of working its way in the direction of west hollywood. joining us now is white house correspondent for the pbs news hour. rashad robinson, president of color of change. maria, the president and founder of futuro media and also anchor and executive producer of npr's latino usa. and basz it's almost hard to know where to start tonight. basil, let me begin with you.

we have heard leaders from some of the states that righteous anger has morphed into something very different. how do you see that morphing? why is tonight so different from last night? >> well, you know, i think if you have -- if -- if there are -- if law enforcement or the power structure in this country has its need, figuratively and literally, on the neck of african-americans for 400 years. once you stand up, how do you expect us to be anything but angry? and i think, as time has gone on, you start to think about the names and replay the images of people who we know or have come to know. and see the way that they've died at the -- at the -- at the hands of law enforcement. or simply jogging down the street. it does get you to a point where you just -- you can't just sit still. and i know there are folks among

us that want us to quote/unquote behave ourselves. but how do you -- i don't understand where that cams from. i don't understand where that notion comes from. there is a phenomenal amount of anger and -- and frustration. and you just can't -- how -- how often are we going to be asked to push that down deep within ourselves and -- and -- and pretend like it's -- that it's not there and hasn't happened? and just very quickly, i always think about this article that was written by "the times" about five years ago. they talked about 1.5 million black men missing and it struck me because talking about how the criminal justice system and do other measures that there are people in our community, that just disappear. and, again, you could be running down the street or jogging. you can be in your own home. at the hands of law enforcement, like we've seen with brother floyd or eric garner, here in new york. and it -- it -- there's no way that you can just sit back,

idly, and think that people are just going to go back into their homes and not speak on it. >> rashad robinson, we've been looking at more prirkts from los angeles. we saw a shot from san francisco. it was labeled san jose. that's actually san francisco city hall. what do you expect tonight across the country? what's your guess on what will happen this evening? >> you know, it's hard to tell because what we are experiencing from law enforcement is the ongoing way that they seem to be unable to deescalate when they come face to face with black people trying to express their concerns. trying to push back against righteous -- push back with righteous anger, against the challenges. we watched in cities and capitals around the country showed up with guns and basically demanding that black people go to work. essential workers,

disproportionately black and brown people, get back to the daily behaviors of work and life. so what we are -- what i think is really important here is i am hearing mayors and governors who we have had clear demands, who we've been told to be patient around criminal justice reform. be patient as the united states, a country that has 4% of the world's population. but, somehow, has 25% of the world's incarcerated population. where police officers can treat us like enemy combatants time and time again. where viral videos show us being hurt, harmed, or killed. and no justice is served and folks are telling people to go home, but not talking about how they're going to dell with oversized police budgets. not telling us how they are going to implement new strategies and policies on how to hold police accountable. dealing with immunity, that police officers have. fraternal order police and police unions have literally sat in front of told us things like

profiling simply don't exist. i sat in a meeting during the obama white house, and all this talk of racial profiling is new to him. you know, we see, time and time again, law enforcement acts like these things don't even exist. and then, we see these images on the streets while they escalate, time and time again. what we want is not just justice in these -- in these instances, these horrible instances. which is actually, absolutely necessary. it has to be the first step. but we also need long-term systemic change. millions of people have joined us at color of change, to take action. and part of that is going to be about advancing a set of demands locally. it's going to be about holding elected officials accountable. electing new district attorneys, and championing the ones that will actually do something about it. but what we are seeing, as a new political movement growing out of all of this. and it's not about this one

incident. it's about years and years of -- of un -- unmet promises. unmet demands. it's also about a white house that is stoking this type of violence. that feels to lead in any way, shape, or form. and seems to think our lives, our dignity, our community, is nothing more than a game. >> what do you make of some of the concerns that were expressed by a number of governors, as well as by some federal officials, that some folks in the crowd last night were linked to other entities. there's some state lawmakers or state officials who said they believed some of those folks were linked to white supremacist groups and organized crime. we heard from attorney general will y william barr and also president trump they believe certain far-left interests were involved. they specifically named antifa,

the antifascist movement. what do you make of those claims about outside actors, yamiche? >> i think maybe there is some peppering of that for sure. but, by and large, people are fed up. african-americans. and i will say people of color. but also, i was out today looking at some protests in washington, d.c. there are a lot of white people that are also frustrated that see, very objectively, that america just does not treat black people in the same way that they treat whites, when you look at healthcare or education or criminal justice. and i think the point rashad was making is a wise one about the president. the president, as he's trying to say he wants to be a friend to people of color. as he tries to say he wants justice for george floyd. there is a complication there in his words it's that he, himself, has joked about people not having their heads protected when police are arresting them. he's blasted black lives matter activists and civil rights

activists as causing trouble. he's used language and said they were very fine people, at nazis, going into a nazi rally. so when i think the president tries to present himself as a friend to social justices and rights, he really has a credibility issue there. if people were coming to the white house and tried to have -- to have issues with the building and tried to overrun. they might be met with vicious dogs. vicious dogs is, of course, one of the images. one of the historical images of the civil rights movement. so people put that language and added when the looting starts, the shooting starts. and pointed out they just don't think president trump is saying the right things in this moment. but also, again, just doesn't have the credibility to do that. i think going forward, people obviously want systemic change. but we've been here over and over again. t' incredible to me that we are now at a place where, again, we are seeing a video of someone saying over and over again, i can't breathe. that officer stood on george floyd's next for 8 minutes 46

seconds. i think there are a lot of people who look at that and say that's not systemic change. all these years after ferguson, nothing has really changed. i think of course there are police departments that have tried to change. but i think the overall feeling that african-americans aren't being treated equally. that has not changed in a lot of people as minds and that's why i think we are going to see more protests tonight. >> yamiche, regarding those tweets from the president so we have the full context of it. this is part of a twitter spread the president wrote. he wrote, quote, big crowd, professionally organized, but nobody came close to breaching the fence. that's the reconstruction fence i told you about. >> quote, if they had, they would have been greeted with the most vicious dogs and most ominous weapons i have ever seen. that's when people would have been really badly hurt. at least. he will go on to quote many secret service just waiting for action. we p they love it and good practice. as you saw last night, they were

very cool and very professional. never let it get out of hand. thank you. unquote. that was part of a twitter thread that was sent by president trump. maria, sit tight. i want to nbc's cal perry right now. cal, what's going on? >> reporter: joshua, things have calmed down here a little bit, but there was a hail of that sort of non-lethal fire at protesters and at journalists. i have to say i've never seen american police behave this way around the media. we have been pepper sprayed a number of times as my colleagues have, as we're seeing around the country. the protesters have dispercented -- dispersed. there is a curfew now. police are going building to building and trying to clear the city. it's important we understand a little bit what's happening here in louisville. it was back on march 13th when breonna taylor, who is an emt. she was a worker on the frontlines of the covid-19 pandemic was shot to death eight

times by police who entered her apartment on what they call a no-knock warrant. they just went into her apartment looking for a suspect who we now understand was already in police custody. this is not unique to louisville, but it is why so many people were on the streets here tonight. even with that sort of overwhelming force that we saw here tonight, joshua, we saw a number of injuries here. it's important to know there were two police injured last night. we still don't know about arrests. the mayor is going to give a press conference tonight to hopefully update those numbers. that is the scene here in what is now a very quiet, a very eerie and very dark louisville. >> do you goetz tet the sense te police, whoever is part of that coordinated effort in downtown louisville, were particularly heavy-handed. we saw some video last night of a reporter for our nbc affiliate in louisville who got hit with these pepper balls, these rubber bullets, and she was indeed backing up and backing away from

officers. i believe an apology was extended to her, but has the tone shifted from that, or does it still feel kind of heavy-handed. >> reporter: no, and i'll find you one of those little pellets if somebody can grab one off the ground. i think the decision was made at 7:20 that they were just going to clear the streets. and from 7:20 until now, they've just been firing these rounds. and you can see they're about this big, and when they hit you or when they hit the ground, that's when they release that pepper gas. we saw a car pull up to this intersection and police yelled at the driver to stop, and then they must have fired two dozen the car took off. i think the decision was made clearly by the governor, by the mayor, that they wanted the streets cleared. we have permission to be here from the mayor's office. police approached us about a half hour ago. i said, we're with nbc news. the local police say we could be here. they said, i don't care. there's a curfew. this is about the governor's orders. i wouldn't say heavy handed.

i would say deliberate. certainly not crowd control. that's not the saying we should be using. it's crowd suppression or crowd dispersal at best. i mean, you know, this is about making people feel like they didn't have a choice, like they had to go hometo. and i think as you can see from the streets, message received. >> thanks, pal. maria hinojosa, we're almost out of time. i want to ask about what the end game is from here. got to let you go shortly, but what are your thoughts on where do we go next? >> look, the only thing that we know right now, joshua, is people are at least having these conversations, and people are saying, what do we do? it's not enough to say, i'm not a racist. you actually have to do the work of anti-racism and become involved in dismantling this. you know, as journalists, we're just trying to tell the stories of what's happening, which is why what we see particularly just recently with the nypd driving into a crowd of protesters in brooklyn, i believe, bringing back these

images of charlottesville, on the one hand we hear cuomo, bill de blasio, other governors and mayors saying they want peace. but what we are seeing is a very antagonistic force that is coming upon protesters that are simply saying, this is too much. and it doesn't just stop with the murder as every one of your guests as made the connection. this is starting the fish stinks from the head down. when you have a president who is doing these kinds of things and making these kinds of statements, we're all feeling it, and we're seeing the results. and i'm very concerned about what's happening to our colleagues as journalists who are being consistently attacked for doing their jobs. and for people who are just doing their first amendment right in the united states. so it's all of our jobs to stay awake right now. >> maria hinojosa, rashad robinson, yamiche alcindor, and basil smikle, thank you for being with us as we take a look

at more of these images. new york city on the left. you saw someone being carried to the curb who may have been overcome by tear gas or something similar. that's been part of the narrative of the entire night, not just the protesters but the press as well. msnbc's ali velshi and morgan chesky in minneapolis were caught up in some of that same gas as minnesota state patrol officers and national guardsmen pushed and pushed and pushed to get crowds away from the fifth precinct and kind of split them up as they were making their way north, kind of in the direction of downtown minneapolis. we also saw in los angeles tremendous challenges in trying to keep order, including a few moments where the police were pushed back by some of the protesters. that may get more intense as the night goes on. we know that l.a.'s mayor, eric garcetti, has extended a curfew that was supposed to just extend to a few parts of los angeles, to the entire area of los angeles. we're also hearing about some

more clashes between police and protesters including in atlanta, where about 25 minutes ago, an atlanta p.d. officer was apparently struck by someone riding an atv in the area of 200 ted turner drive. i believe that's near cnn center downtown. the officer sustained what is described as significant injuries and was transported to grady. their condition is said to be stable. quite a lot going on in america tonight. this is a night that is about making change in the country. change is never easy. it will be interesting, i think, to see what happens after this. night is beginning to fall across the entire country. who knows what that will bring through the night and into the morning? i appreciate your making time for us. i will see you tomorrow morning on "meet the press." i'll see you back here at 3:00 p.m. eastern. until we meet again, i'm joshua johnson. chris jansing continues our coverage next on msnbc.

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good evening. i'm chris jansing. tonight a nation on edge. the death of george floyd continues to spark another night of protests in dozens of cities. and as the unrest continues and spreads, mayors from coast to coast are