Celebrities join riot frontline: Halsey, Emily Ratajkowski and Paris Jackson - Daily Mail

Celebrities join riot frontline: Halsey, Anna Kendrick, Emily Ratajkowski and Paris Jackson leave luxury life in lockdown to take part in George Floyd protests

• Singers Halsey and Yungblud, model Emily Ratajkowski, Jaz Sinclair, former Disney star Ross Lynch, Paris Jackson and 'hot felon' Jeremy Meeks were seen joining protests in California on Saturday
• Meanwhile many other celebrities were fighting for justice on social media, including Billie Eilish who launched a tirade against 'All Lives Matter' movement
• Los Angeles has been a hotspot of rage, with hundreds arrested since Friday night at riots over the death of George Floyd which have erupted nationwide 

By Ross Ibbetson For Mailonline

Published: 11:07 BST, 31 May 2020 | Updated: 17:52 BST, 31 May 2020

Celebrities have joined the frontline of the riots, with Halsey, Emily Ratajkowski and Paris Jackson, leaving their lives of luxury to take part in George Floyd protests.

Singers Halsey and Yungblud were spotted at demonstrations in Los Angeles on Saturday. The pair were wearing masks and held signs saying, 'Black Lives Matter,' as they chanted with others.

Model Emily Ratajkowski was also posting regular Instagram updates from the protests in LA. 'DISMANTLE POWER STRUCTURES OF OPPRESSION #defundthepolice #justiceforgeorgefloyd #blacklivesmatter,' she wrote on her slideshow.

Paris Jackson was also out in California, along with Jaz Sinclair, former Disney star Ross Lynch and 'hot felon' Jeremy Meeks.

Meanwhile many other celebrities were fighting for justice on social media, including Billie Eilish who launched a furious tirade against the 'All Lives Matter' movement. 

Back in black: Yungblud (real name: Dominic Harrison) wore a black jacket over his white T-shirt, along with two-tone black and white jeans and and studded black boots

United: Paris Jackson (right) at a Black Lives Matter protest in California on Saturday

Emily Ratajkowski was also posting regular Instagram updates from the protests in LA. 'DISMANTLE POWER STRUCTURES OF OPPRESSION #defundthepolice #justiceforgeorgefloyd #blacklivesmatter,' she wrote on her slideshow.

Light hearted: Anna Kendrick went out to protest with her fellow actress friend Chrissie Fit. The two had on masks, and she joked in the caption that she looked 'f***ing creepy'

Riots have spread across dozens of States following the death of George Floyd, a black man who died in police custody in Minneapolis on Monday after a white officer knelt on his neck.

Rapper Machine Gun Kelly was also out with friends taking part in the LA demonstrations. He was pictured holding a sign which said: 'Silence is a betrayal.' 

Actor Kendrick Sampson was also posting regular updates to his Instagram feed from the protests.

Horrifying footage showed the Insecure star being struck by police batons and fired at with rubber bullets as screams were heard in the background. 

He is heard asking officers, 'Why are you hitting me,' as cops in riot gear strike him with their batons and shoot him with rubber bullets as he appears to be protesting peacefully. 

Also joining protests in West Hollywood, Madison Beer wore a Dallas Cowboys sweatshirt and carried a Dior saddle bag along with her 'Black Lives Matter' sign.

One Tree Hill star Sophia Bush, who previously posted about Floyd's death on social media, joined in the protests too.

She wore a white shirt reading: 'Officer, I'm lost, I'm looking for the land of the free with equal right for everyone. It's called America.'

In North Carolina, rapper J. Cole was seen joining in the demonstrations against police brutality in downtown Fayetville.

Insecure star Kendrick Sampson was also posting regular updates to his Instagram feed from the protests. In one video he described how the police were trying to disperse the crowds but they had been boxed in.

Rapper Machine Gun Kelly was also out with friends taking part in the LA demonstrations. He was pictured holding a sign which said: 'Silence is a betrayal.'

Masked and anonymous: Although it's a common tactic for some protestors to wear masks to avoid targeting by law enforcement, most of the crowd covered up due to the ongoing coronavirus pandemic

Also in the crowd were Chilling Adventures Of Sabrina's Skye P. Marshall, along with her co-stars Jaz Sinclair and Ross Lynch (center) 

Paris Jackson (left and right) holds a sign saying 'Peace, Love, Justice,' at a demonstration in California on Saturday

Helping out: Elsewhere in Los Angeles, Jeremy Meeks, known as the 'hot felon,' joined the protests. He raised his fist in solidarity

Los Angeles deployed the National Guard for the first since the 1992 riots when the police officers who beat up black man Rodney King walked free of all charges and California Governor Gavin Newsom declared a state of emergency in LA County.   

The calling in of around 500-700 National Guard troops also came just hours after Mayor Eric Garcetti said he would stop short of calling for their activation. 

'This isn't 1992,' Garcetti had said Saturday afternoon, referring to the move made by officials during the 1992 riots after the Rodney King when all police officers involved in violently beating up the black man were acquitted.     

He had already announced a curfew in downtown LA starting 8pm Saturday through to 5.30am Sunday, in desperate efforts to restore some order as he urged both law enforcement and protesters to 'take a deep breath and step back for a moment'. 

In downtown, protesters sprayed graffiti and torched police cruisers while officers shot rubber bullets into crowds and were seen beating demonstrators with batons.  

This marked the fourth night of protests for LA after it became one of the first cities to start a break-off protest Tuesday over Floyd's killing. 

Curfews were also announced in other California cities including San Francisco, where the mayor called for the National Guard to be put on standby. 

Outspoken: Stepping out for a good cause, the Aussie beauty opted for a black sleeveless singlet top and she covered her face and nose with a red bandana

Activist: The 24-year-old brunette was seen holding a homemade sign which read: 'If you stand for nothing you fall for anything.'

Growing crowd: One Tree Hill star Sophia Bush previously posted about George Floyd's death, so she joined the protests on Saturday

Taking part: Madison Beer wore a Dallas Cowboys sweatshirt and carried a Dior saddle bag while joining the demonstrations in West Hollywood

Eilish's Instagram post is the latest in a slew of shares from the Grammy-winning artist, 18, in the wake of Floyd's death.

In the series of text screens, Eilish begin by writing, 'I’ve been trying to take this week to figure out a way to address this delicately. I have an enourmous [sic] platform and I try really hard to be respectful and take time to think through what I say and how I say it… But holy f**king s**t I’m gonna just start talking.

'If I hear one more person say "aLL liVeS maTtEr" one more f**king time I’m gonna lose my f**king mind,' the Bad Guy hitmaker continued. 

'Will you shut the f**k uuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuup???? No one is saying your life doesn’t matter. No one is saying your life is not hard.

Los Angeles: LA Mayor Eric Garcetti deployed the National Guard to the city and mobilized its entire police department as part of its emergency response

Los Angeles, California: Firefighters put out a fire in a looted store set on fire on Melrose during curfew as thousands of protesters take the street to demonstrate following the death of George Floyd

'I'm just gonna start talking': The post is the latest in a slew of shares from Billie Eilish in the wake of the killing of unarmed black man George Floyd at the hands of police officers on Monday

'If I hear one more person say "aLL liVeS maTtEr" one more f**king time I’m gonna lose my f**king mind,' the Bad Guy hitmaker said in her letter. 'This is not about you' 

Towards the end of the missive: Eilish got to the heart of the matter, explaining why the Black Lives Matter movement is so necessary and the idea of 'All Lives Matter' is antithetical to it

Moved: Saturday saw another post from Billie in support of #BlackLivesMatter, which she captioned, 'I want things to be different'

'No one is saying literally anything at all about you…. all you mfs do is find a way to make everything about yourself. This is not about you. Stop making everything about you. You are not in need. You are not in danger,' Billie added pointedly.

She went on in the post to draw some rather childlike analogies ('because IT FEELS LIKE THATS THE ONLY WAY YOU MFS WILL UNDERSTAND,' she said) about a person's arm being cut, or house being on fire, and how no one would expect a bandaid to be put on all arms or for the 'fire department to go to every other house on the block first because all houses matter'. 

'No!', Eilish wrote. 'Because they don’t f**king need it. You are privileged whether you like it or not. Society gives you privilege just for being white. You can be poor, you can be struggling.. and still your skin color is giving you more privilege than you even realize.'

Towards the end of the missive, Eilish got to the heart of the matter, explaining why the Black Lives Matter movement is so necessary and the idea of 'All Lives Matter' is antithetical to it.

'The slogan of #BlackLivesMatter does not mean other lives don’t,' she wrote. 'It’s calling attention to the fact that society clearly thinks black lives don’t f**king matter!!!!! And they f**king do!!!!!'  

She finished her letter with a repetition of the phrase, 'Black Lives Matter,' and ended with the hashtag #JusticeForGeorgeFloyd.

The post comes after another fiery share from the singer, which was in response to Donald Trump's tweets about the protests erupting in Minneapolis and around the country after this latest killing of an unarmed African-American.

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2020-05-31 17:02:39Z
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George Floyd death: Lawyer calls it 'premeditated murder' - BBC News

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A lawyer for the family of George Floyd, whose death sparked unrest across the US, has accused a police officer of "premeditated murder".

Minneapolis policeman Derek Chauvin has been charged with third-degree murder, but lawyer Benjamin Crump told CBS news it was a case of first-degree murder.

"We think that he had intent... almost nine minutes he kept his knee in a man's neck that was begging and pleading for breath," he said.

Several US cities have imposed curfews.

The Floyd case has reignited US anger over police killings of black Americans. It follows the high-profile cases of Michael Brown in Ferguson, Eric Garner in New York and others that have driven the Black Lives Matter movement.

"The fact that officer Chauvin kept his knee on his neck for almost three minutes after he was unconscious. We don't understand how that was not first degree murder. We don't understand how all these officers haven't been arrested," lawyer Crump said.

Three other officers present at the time have also since been sacked.

For many the outrage over George Floyd's death also reflects years of frustration over socioeconomic inequality and segregation, not least in Minneapolis itself.

In video footage, Mr Chauvin, 44, can be seen kneeling on Mr Floyd's neck for several minutes on Monday. Mr Floyd, 46, repeatedly says that he is unable to breathe.

There have been five nights of arson and looting in Minneapolis and the adjacent city of St Paul. Minnesota's Governor Tim Walz said on Saturday he was deploying the full Minnesota National Guard for the first time since World War Two.

The National Guard - the US reserve military force for domestic emergencies - said on Sunday that 5,000 of its personnel had been activated in 15 states and Washington DC. It added that "state and local law enforcement agencies remain responsible for security".

In the CBS interview, lawyer Benjamin Crump also said "we now have the audio from the police bodycam and we hear where one officer says 'he doesn't have a pulse, maybe we should turn him on his side', but yet officer Chauvin says 'no, we're going to keep him in this position'. That's intent.

"Also, the fact that officer Chauvin kept his knee on his neck for almost three minutes after he was unconscious."

What's the latest on the protests?

Thousands took part in an anti-racism protest march in central London on Sunday, defying social distancing rules imposed because of coronavirus. They gathered in Trafalgar Square, then the crowd moved on to the US embassy.

Huge demonstrations have taken place in at least 30 cities across the US. They were largely peaceful on Saturday, but violence flared later in the day.

One of the cities worst affected by unrest is Los Angeles. California Governor Gavin Newsom declared a state of emergency in the city and activated the National Guard.

The entire city is under a 20:00 to 05:30 curfew. Numerous shops have been looted, including on the famous retail avenues, Melrose and Fairfax, while overhead footage showed fires burning. Earlier police fired rubber bullets and hit protesters with batons. Hundreds of arrests have been made.

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2020-05-31 16:23:50Z
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