MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — Officials in Minneapolis say the looting and property damage that followed the death of George Floyd has caused at least $55 million in destruction.
Vandals damaged or set fire to at least 220 buildings in the city where Floyd died, but that number is expected to go up, city officials said.
Mayor Jacob Frey will ask for state and federal aid to help rebuild after the civil unrest. Until that happens, community members are pitching in to support Minneapolis neighborhoods.
More than $1 million has been raised to help businesses in north Minneapolis, WCCO-TV reported. The West Broadway Business and Area Coalition said it will announce how it will use the money in coming weeks.
The violence followed the death of Floyd, a handcuffed black man who died May 25 after a white Minneapolis police officer pressed his knee into Floyd's neck for nearly 9 minutes, ignoring Floyd's cries that he couldn't breathe.
Prosecutors upgraded charges against the officer, Derek Chauvin, to second-degree murder on Wednesday and charged three other officers with aiding and abetting in the case that has rocked the nation with protests over race and police brutality.
Norway Prohibits Protests
COPENHAGEN, Denmark — Authorities in Norway have turned down applications to hold rallies in the country's three largest cities in support of protesters in the United States over the death of George Floyd, citing the coronavirus restrictions on gatherings.
Rallies were planned in Oslo, Bergen and Trondheim but local authorities said that without a dispensation from the Norwegian Institute of Public Health, no more than 50 people can gather in one place, Mohamed Awil, president of the African Student Association UiO told The Associated Press.
The association is co-organizing the rally in Oslo, where more than 15,000 people had said they planned to take part in Thursday's demonstration outside the U.S. Embassy. Awil said they were considering an alternative demonstration but details were not immediately available.
Similar events took place in the in the capitals of Sweden and Finland on Wednesday. They attracted thousands of people even though the limit in Sweden is 50 and in Finland is 500.
Duchess of Sussex Speaks in LA
LONDON — The Duchess of Sussex has shared her sadness about racial divisions in the United States, telling students at her former high school that she felt moved to speak out because the life of George Floyd mattered.
Meghan told graduates at the Immaculate Heart High School in Los Angeles that she wrestled with what to tell them given the days of protests after Floyd's death.
"I realized the only wrong thing to say is to say nothing, because George Floyd's life mattered," she said in a virtual address.
The former Meghan Markle, who has an African American mother and a white father, said the unrest reminded her of riots in her hometown of Los Angeles after police officers were acquitted in the videotaped beating of Rodney King.
"I remember the curfew and I remember rushing back home, and on that drive home, seeing ash fall from the sky, and smelling the smoke and seeing the smoke billow out of buildings,'' she said. "I remember seeing men in the back of a van just holding guns and rifles.
"I remember pulling up the house and seeing the tree that had always been there completely charred. And those memories don't go away."
Iran Goes After Trump
TEHRAN, Iran — Iranian President Hassan Rouhani called George Floyd's killing "brutal" and criticized President Donald Trump for posing for photos while holding a Bible.
Rouhani in a televised speech said Floyd "was killed in the most brutal way."
"We express sympathy toward the American people who are on the streets while harshly condemning the crime," he said.