'Outside agitators taking over': US Attorney General on protests over George Floyd's death

As the protests in the United States took a turn for the worse, US Attorney General William Barr on Saturday said that outside radicals and agitators have hijacked protests in US cities over George Floyd's death in police custody in Minneapolis.

“Groups of outside radicals and agitators are exploiting the situation to pursue their own separate and violent agenda,” Barr said in a statement. "In many places, it appears the violence is planned, organised, and driven by anarchistic and far-left extremists, using Antifa-like tactics, many of whom travel from out of state to promote the violence," he said.

"We must have law and order on our streets and in our communities, and it is the responsibility of the local and state leadership, in the first instance, to halt this violence. The Department of Justice (including the FBI, Marshals, ATF, and DEA), and all of our 93 U.S. Attorneys across the country, will support these local efforts and take all action necessary to enforce federal law," he added.

“It is a federal crime to cross state lines or use interstate facilities to incite or participate in violent rioting and we will enforce those laws,” he concluded.

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'Will stand against violence, mayhem and disorder'

As protests continue to engulf the United States over the death of George Floyd, US President Donal Trump on Sunday said that his administration "will always stand against violence, mayhem, and disorder".

Condoling Floyd's death, Trump said, "We will stand with the family of George Floyd, with the peaceful protestors, and with every law-abiding citizen who wants decency, civility, safety, and security." Saying that his administration supports the rights of "peaceful protestors," Trump added that "what we are now seeing on the streets of our cities has nothing to do with justice or peace.”

(With agency inputs)

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