2020 United States elections: Wednesday closes with protests



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Dozens of people were arrested in Manhattan, New York, during demonstrations in rejection of the Donald Trump administration and calling for a vote recount.

At around 10 pm (local time), the New York Police confirmed 20 detainees and alleged that they “tried to take over a peaceful protest by lighting fires, throwing garbage and eggs.” About two hours earlier, protesters were walking the streets around Washington Square Park, in the southwest area of ​​the Big Apple, shouting “No Trump, No KKK (Ku Klux Klan), No Facist USA” and “There is no justice, there is no peace. Damn racist cop “.

There were also tense moments when other protesters burned several garbage bags piled up in the streets, which the firefighters quickly came to extinguish. The Police posted several photos of burning garbage and stressed that this type of vandalism “puts others at risk and will not be tolerated,” so their focus is “to de-escalate the situation” to avoid further damage.

In the early afternoon, hundreds more gathered on the steps of the central New York Library on Fifth Avenue in Manhattan to denounce Trump’s attempts to stop scrutiny in two key states. Among the lions that guard the doors of the centennial building, labor, immigrant and political organizations gathered to show their rejection of the request of Trump’s electoral team to recount the votes in the state of Wisconsin and threats to petition the courts to stop the count in Michigan and Pennsylvania.

Minneapolis, scene of George Floyd’s death, returns to the streets

Several people were also arrested in Minneapolis (Minnesota). The protesters, according to CBS Local Minnesota, marched from two different locations, Cedar Avenue and the Hennepin County Government Center, with various demands. In addition, he indicated that the police closed the interstate highway to traffic and proceeded to carry out the arrests after asking the crowd to disperse, without the exact number of detainees being known at the moment.

Minneapolis was the scene of serious race riots between the end of May and June after the murder of George Floyd, an African American who was suffocated by a white police officer, who pressed his knee on his neck for 8 minutes and 46 seconds, despite protests from the man who complained that he could not breathe.

Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, asks for a count of all votes

On the other hand, several hundred people demonstrated this Wednesday in Philadelphia, the main city of the state of Pennsylvania (USA), so that all votes are counted and the democratic process is respected, which should end with the counting of the ballots sent by mail.

Some gathered near the convention center, where the vote cast by mail is being counted against the clock in the city of Philadelphia, the most populous city in the state and which has delays in counting due to the avalanche of this type of ballot due to the pandemic .

The rallies, which were also attended by supporters of President Donald Trump, who has raised the fear of fraud without providing evidence, take place the day after the elections and when the state has begun to resume the vote-by-mail scrutiny , after a long night focused on voting in person.

This state will be decisive for the outcome of the elections. Donald Trump still has the upper hand in the votes cast on Tuesday, but the thousands of votes by mail that remain to be counted suggest that this could be reversed.

Portland experienced the strongest riots

Hundreds of Oregon state police officers and leftist protesters staged skirmishes Wednesday night in Portland after anti-President Trump groups smashed store windows. The state governor activated the national guard and Multnomah County security forces arrested nine people.

The police warned of a possible use of ammunition and tear gas before the advance of the protesters, although there were no direct confrontations with the forces of order, according to an AFP reporter present at the scene.

Portland has been the scene for months of clashes between police and protesters protesting the killings of people of African descent. at the hands of the police in the United States. Protesters who had gathered along the Willamette River vowed to “protect the results” of Tuesday’s election and carried banners reading “Count every vote” and “The vote is over. The fight continues ”.

Paradoxically, several of the protesters carried firearms, such as rifles. One of the banners against racism and anti-imperialism of the march contained the image of an assault rifle and the slogan “We don’t want Biden. We want revenge“.

Michigan, a decisive state, also experiences uncertainty

The protest in Detroit, in front of a vote-counting center, was much smaller, but tense, according to an AFP photographer at the scene and videos posted on social media. Shouting “stop counting!”, Some pro-Trump protesters asked to stop the count and watch the process, after Trump announced a lawsuit to stop the counting of votes in Michigan.

Videos of the protest showed protesters with raised fists as police prevented them from entering the vote counting center. According to the Detriot Free Press, Biden’s sympathizers later joined the protest, adding to the tension.

The US press announced Wednesday afternoon that that state was won by Joe Biden, which places the Democrat at the gates of the White House.

Biden has 264 delegates in the Electoral College and is one step away from achieving the 270 delegates who give the keys to the White House, compared to the 214 that Trump accumulates. The path to the White House for the Democrat is to conquer at least one of the four key states that remain at stake: Pennsylvania, North Carolina, Georgia and Nevada.



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