It's been seven continuous days of large scale civil unrest all across USA, over the death of George Floyd, an unarmed black man, at the hands of a White police officer in Minneapolis, in the city of Minnesota.

"I can't breathe" – the final words that Floyd uttered before his death, as Derek Chauvin the police officer in concern knelt on Floyd's neck for eight minutes and 46 seconds straight – has become a rallying cry for the protestors.

New York, Los Angeles, Miami, Seattle, Ohio, Colorado — all the major states and cities that were deserted until only a week back because of the coronavirus outbreak have been witnessing large scale violence, arson, face offs between police officers and protestors who are angry about the racially-driven police killings of black Americans.

As the protest turned to destruction of public property and looting in some place, President Trump put out a controversial tweet warning, "when the looting starts, the shooting starts."

So far, at least 4,000 people have been arrested nation-wide, curfews have been imposed in at least 40 cities and National Guard members have been activated in 23 states including Washington, DC as the protests reached an unprecedented level not seen before in decades.

But why did this incident trigger such massive outrage even at such a critical time as this dangerous pandemic? Tune in to The Big Story!

Producer and Host: Shorbori Purkayastha

Guests: Aditya Menon, Political Editor, The Quint

Editor: Shelly Walia

Music: Big Bang Fuzz

References:

Police excesses for lockdown violation led to 12 deaths: Study These 4 charts describe police violence in America

Listen to The Big Story podcast on:

Apple: https://apple.co/2AYdLIl

Saavn: http://bit.ly/2oix78C

Google Podcasts: http://bit.ly/2ntMV7S

Spotify: https://spoti.fi/2IyLAUQ

Deezer: http://bit.ly/2Vrf5Ng

Castbox: http://bit.ly/2VqZ9ur