US protests defy curfews as Trump faces backlash for violent crackdown

WASHINGTON, June 3: Protesters defied curfews across the United States as leaders scrambled to stem anger over police racism while President Donald Trump rejected criticism over his use of force to break up a peaceful rally.
Standoffs between police and demonstrators stretched into the night in cities from New York to Los Angeles over the death of George Floyd, an unarmed African-American man whose killing has brought once-in-a-generation protests to the nation for the past week.
But there were fewer reports of the looting and violence that had soured street demonstrations in previous nights. Tens of thousands gathered earlier Tuesday in Houston to pay a hometown tribute to Floyd, who grew up in the Texas city and is to be buried there next week. "Today is... about George Floyd's family -- we want them to know that George did not die in vain," Mayor Sylvester Turner told an estimated 60,000 people.
A tearful Roxie Washington, the mother of Floyd's six-year-old daughter, told a news      conference she wanted "justice for him because he was good. "No matter what anybody thinks, he was good."
In New York, which on Tuesday prolonged its first curfew since World War II for the full week, AFP reporters saw hundreds refusing to go home after the 8:00 pm cutoff, instead chanting slogans and peacefully walking the streets in Manhattan and Brooklyn.    -AFP