US Domestic News Roundup: Facebook takes down nationalist and fake antifa accounts; U.S. religious leaders criticize Trump and more


Devdiscourse News Desk | Updated: 03-06-2020 18:40 IST | Created: 03-06-2020 18:30 IST
US Domestic News Roundup: Facebook takes down nationalist and fake antifa accounts; U.S. religious leaders criticize Trump and more
File photo Image Credit: Wikimedia

Following is a summary of current US domestic news briefs.

Mainstream U.S. religious leaders criticize Trump after church photo

Mainstream U.S. Protestant and Catholic leaders sharply criticized President Donald Trump on Tuesday, a day after peaceful protesters were forcibly displaced for a staged presidential photo in front of a church near the White House. Trump won the 2016 presidential election with strong support from white Catholics and evangelical Christians. Just months ahead of the November elections, when he hopes to win a second term, Trump has been trying to appeal to those voters with the photo in front of the Episcopal church, a visit Tuesday to a shrine to Pope John Paul II, and an executive order directing U.S. agencies to "protect" religious freedom overseas.

Trump says Republican convention will not be held in North Carolina

President Donald Trump said on Tuesday that the Republican convention due to be held in North Carolina in August will have to be held in another state because of social distancing restrictions ordered by the state's Democratic governor. In a tweet, Trump said North Carolina Governor Roy Cooper "is still in Shelter-In-Place Mode, and not allowing us to occupy the arena as originally anticipated and promised."

Exclusive: Most Americans sympathize with protests, disapprove of Trump's response - Reuters/Ipsos

A majority of Americans sympathize with nationwide protests over the death of an unarmed black man in police custody and disapprove of President Donald Trump's response to the unrest, according to a Reuters/Ipsos poll released on Tuesday. The demonstrations, some of which have turned violent, began last week after a Minneapolis police officer was videotaped kneeling on the neck of George Floyd for nearly nine minutes, even after Floyd appeared to lose consciousness.

The officer has been charged with murder. Trump says Republican convention will not be held in North Carolina

U.S. President Donald Trump said on Tuesday the Republican National Convention set for August in North Carolina would have to be held in another state because of social distancing restrictions ordered by the state's governor. Trump made the announcement on Twitter hours after Governor Roy Cooper, a Democrat, rejected Republican demands for a full-fledged presidential nominating convention in Charlotte, telling organizers that planning for a scaled-down event was "a necessity" due to the coronavirus.

Hackers and hucksters reinvigorate 'Anonymous' brand amid protests

The amorphous internet activist movement known as Anonymous staged an online resurgence in the past week on the back of real-world protests against police brutality. Born from internet chat boards more than a dozen years ago, the collective was once known for organizing low-skill but effective denial-of-service attacks that temporarily shut down access to payment processors that had stopped handling donations to the anti-secrecy site WikiLeaks.

Facebook takes down white nationalist and fake antifa accounts

Facebook Inc said Tuesday it has suspended accounts associated with white nationalist groups after some advocated bringing weapons to the current wave of anti-racist protests. Company officials also said they removed accounts falsely claiming allegiance to antifa in order to bring discredit to the anti-fascist movement.

George Floyd, a 'gentle giant,' remembered in hometown Houston march

George Floyd's hometown of Houston held a memorial march for him on Tuesday, where attendees recounted a "gentle giant" whose legacy had helped the city largely avoid the violent protests seen elsewhere in the United States. The mayor's office said 60,000 people gathered downtown to honor Floyd, who died after a white police officer pinned his neck under a knee for nearly nine minutes in Minneapolis on May 25.. Floyd's death has ignited protests across the country.

U.S. crowds defy curfew to protest Floyd's death, but violence subsides

U.S. protesters ignored curfews overnight as they vented their anger over the death of an unarmed black man at the hands of police, but there was a marked drop in the violence that led President Donald Trump to threaten to deploy the military. George Floyd died after a white policeman pinned his neck under the officer's knee for nearly nine minutes in Minneapolis on May 25, reigniting the explosive issue of police brutality against African Americans five months before the November presidential election.

'I want justice': Mother of Floyd's daughter says he was a good man, father

The grieving mother of George Floyd's daughter on Tuesday demanded justice for him, saying he was a good father who did not deserve to die face down on the pavement, pinned under the weight of three police officers. With her 6-year-old daughter Gianna clinging to her, Roxie Washington told reporters she wants all four officers involved in Floyd's death to pay for the killing, which has sparked protests across the U.S. and the world.

U.S. security assessment offers limited evidence extremists drive protests

President Donald Trump has blamed leftwing extremist groups for instigating nights of looting and violence in cities across the United States, but an intelligence assessment offers limited evidence that organized extremists are behind the turmoil. In part of a June 1 internal, intelligence assessment of the protests viewed by Reuters, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) officials said most of the violence appears to have been driven by opportunists.

(With inputs from agencies.)

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