Georgia's governor declared a state of emergency early Saturday to activate the state National Guard as violence flared in Atlanta and in dozens of cities nationwide following the death in Minnesota of George Floyd after a white officer pressed a knee into his neck while taking him into custody, reported AP.

 

Another 500 Guard soldiers were mobilized in Minneapolis and surrounding cities, where Floyd died and an officer faced charges Friday in his death.

 

The Guard was also on standby in the District of Columbia, where a crowd grew outside the White House and chanted curses at President Donald Trump inside. 

 

For a fourth day, Americans took to the streets to decry the death of Floyd.

 

Protesters set a police car on fire, struck officers with bottles, vandalized the headquarters of CNN, and broke into a restaurant in downtown Atlanta as a demonstration that started peacefully quickly changed tone Friday evening.

 

Some protesters tried to push through barriers set up by the US Secret Service along Pennsylvania Avenue, and threw bottles and other objects at officers wearing riot gear, who responded with pepper spray.

 

A person was killed in downtown Detroit just before midnight after someone in an SUV fired shots into a crowd of protesters near the city's Greektown entertainment district, police said. And deputies in San Jose, California, fired at an SUV that reportedly ran into demonstrators.

 

Some demonstrators pelted officers who came over with bottles, striking some of them. Other bottles thrown at authorities exploded behind the police line, but no officers appeared to get hit. Protesters chanted, “Quit your jobs.”

 

At least nine police vehicles were damaged during a demonstration there, according to NBC. As fires burned at multiple places in the city, the College Football Hall of Fame was vandalized, according to the station.

 

Some demonstrators smashed police cars and spray-painted the iconic logo sign at CNN headquarters. At least three officers were hurt and there were multiple arrests, Atlanta police spokesman Carlos Campos said, as protesters shot at officers with BB guns and threw bricks, bottles and knives.

 

"This is not in the spirit of Martin Luther King, Jr.," Bottoms implored the protesters to no avail. "You are disgracing the life of George Floyd and every other person who has been killed in this country."