As unrest over the death of George Floyd rocks the U.S. for the fifth straight day, Twitter said it has been applying fact-check labels to tweets that could inflame racial tensions.

Twitter, which got into an open confrontation with President Donald Trump this week by applying labels to his tweets, told Newsweek it was focusing its campaign against misinformation on “manipulated media” as well as on the pandemic and U.S. elections.

For example, some tweets involving the Floyd incident had been flagged. Tweets from rapper Ice Cube and Bishop Talbert Swan that claimed Derek Chauvin, the former Minneapolis police officer shown kneeling on Floyd’s neck, had worn a “Make Whites Great Again” hat were labeled “Manipulated Media.” The label linked to a landing page providing information that the photo was a hoax, and that the man wearing the hat was not Chauvin.

Twitter’s labeling system was unveiled on May 11, and the social media giant says the aim is to “provide additional context and information” on tweets.

“Rather than saying something is true or false, we are providing people with more context so they can make their own informed decisions about what they see on Twitter,” a Twitter spokesperson told Newsweek via email on Saturday.

“Given the dynamic situation, we will prioritize review and labeling of content that could increase people’s likelihood of being harmed,” she added.

On Tuesday, Trump accused Twitter of “stifling free speech” and attempting to influence the 2020 election by putting a fact-check label on Trump’s tweets about mail-in voting.

“There is NO WAY (ZERO!) that Mail-In Ballots will be anything less than substantially fraudulent. Mail boxes will be robbed, ballots will be forged & even illegally printed out & fraudulently signed. The Governor of California is sending Ballots to millions of people, anyone living in the state, no matter who they are or how they got there, will get one,” Trump tweeted.

Twitter added a label to his tweets, reading “Get the facts about mail-in ballots.” The label directs users to a landing page that says that past studies of voting by mail have not linked the practice with widespread voter fraud.

Trump reacted to the label by tweeting, “.@Twitter is now interfering in the 2020 Presidential Election,” Trump wrote in response. “They are saying my statement on Mail-In Ballots, which will lead to massive corruption and fraud, is incorrect, based on fact-checking by Fake News CNN and the Amazon Washington Post……..Twitter is completely stifling FREE SPEECH, and I, as President, will not allow it to happen!”

Wednesday, Trump accused the platform of “totally [silencing] conservative voices,” and threatened to shut down social media platforms “before we can ever allow this to happen.”

The next day, Trump signed an executive order. The order would remove a liability shield from the Communications Decency Act if social media platforms edit content. In the past, platforms have been protected from liability, because they are considered forums rather than traditional publishers that are responsible for the content they publish.

Twitter has continued to label tweets by Trump, including a notification on Friday that Trump’s tweet about the protests that included the line “When the looting starts, the shooting starts,” violated Twitter’s policy against glorifying violence. The tweet remained on Twitter, however, because the company “has determined that it may be in the public’s interest for the Tweet to remain accessible.”

Curfews have been instituted around the country on Saturday as mass demonstrations broke out nationwide and cities braced for another night of protests.

A curfew went back in effect in Minneapolis on Saturday at 8 p.m. after the city braced for another night of unrest.

“By being out tonight & breaking the 8pm curfew, you are helping the people using crowds as cover to prey on Minneapolis & destroy community,” Mayor Jacob Frey wrote on twitter. The city was also under curfew on Friday night.

Frey said the governor has “fully mobilized” the Minnesota National Guard to respond to demonstrations in the city on Saturday. Violating curfew is punishable by up to a $1000 fine and 90 days in jail, the mayor’s emergency regulation said.

Mayor Lori Lightfoot announced on Saturday that Chicago would go under a curfew at 9 p.m. until 6 a.m. “until further notice.”

On Saturday, thousands marched through the Windy City’s downtown after more than 100 protesters were arrested Friday night.

Mayor Eric Garcetti said a curfew will begin in Downtown LA starting at 8 p.m. and will last until 5:30 a.m.

“We will always protect free speech and Angelenos’ right to live without fear of violence or vandalism,” Garcetti wrote on Twitter, saying the curfew is meant to “increase safety for demonstrators, law enforcement and all citizens of Los Angeles.”

Protests in LA were already underway on Saturday as buses were overtaken and multiple police cars were set on fire in the city’s 4th day of protests.

Beverly Hills also issued a dusk to dawn curfew amid protests and vandalism.

Atlanta went under a curfew Saturday evening, Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms announced in an executive order.

The decree applies to the entire city and began at 9 p.m. and will last until sunrise. The city said the curfew is a result of the “recent acts of violence” during protests.

On Friday, Atlanta saw mass demonstrations where protesters set a police car on fire, struck officers with bottles, and vandalized the headquarters of CNN.

After Denver was rocked by two days of protests, Mayor Michael Hancock announced he is enacting a curfew on Saturday “to help protect people and property.”

The curfew began at 8 p.m. on Saturday and will last until 5 a.m. Sunday, Hancock said in a press release. There will also be a curfew in place on Sunday evening.

The mayor said 34 people have been arrested in the past two nights of protest, and called the “destruction” in the city “reckless, inexcusable, and unacceptable.”

Mayor Jim Kenney announced he was placing Philadelphia under a curfew on Saturday.

The city’s curfew started at 8 p.m. and will last until 6 a.m. on Sunday.

On Saturday, thousands of people marched in Philadelphia in a protest that led to many fires. One Starbucks became engulfed in flames, in addition to some police cars.

Pittsburgh went under curfew at 8:30 p.m. on Saturday.

The news comes after the city declared the protest an “unlawful assembly” and police reported “rioting and looting” throughout downtown, telling residents to avoid the area.

Seattle joined the growing list of cities under curfew Saturday, with its curfew beginning at 5 p.m.

Mayor Jenny Durkan said “crowds need to disburse from downtown immediately.”

“While many individuals gathered peaceful, some individuals have started fires and are destroying buildings,” the mayor wrote on Twitter. “There are multiple fires downtown and it is an extremely dangerous situation.”

Both Ohio cities announced curfews as the governor has ordered the Ohio National Guard to respond to the growing unrest.

In Cleveland, the curfew began at 8 p.m. and will last until 8 a.m. Sunday morning. The curfew will also be in place Sunday evening into Monday morning.

The Columbus curfew began at 10 p.m. Saturday and goes until 6 a.m. Sunday.

“In this time of deep anger, sadness, and frustration, we stand with those who are expressing their First Amendment rights, but we will not stand for those who wish to inflict pain and cause destruction,” Gov. Mike DeWine wrote on Twitter Saturday.

Portland will go back under curfew on Saturday night. Mayor Ted Wheeler declared a state of emergency early Saturday morning, immediately putting the city into a curfew until 6 a.m. The curfew will resume on Saturday at 8:00 p.m. and will lift on Sunday at 6:00 a.m.

Eugene, Oregon, south of Portland, also enacted a curfew on Saturday, beginning at 9 p.m. and lasting until 6 a.m. Sunday.

Rochester, New York enacted a curfew on Saturday in the city between 9 p.m. and 7 a.m. Sunday morning. Mayor Lovely Warren said the order was put into effect “due to potential for widespread breach of peace.”

The city saw a large demonstration, where police shot pepper balls at protesters, according to NBC Rochester affiliate.

Miami-Dade County Mayor Carlos Giménez announced a countywide curfew Saturday. The announcement comes after the city saw widespread demonstration, and dozens of protestors and police faced off outside a Miami police department.

Wisconsin’s biggest city will be under curfew on Saturday after the Mayor said demonstrations turned “unlawful and violent” on Friday.

The lockdown will last from 9 p.m. Saturday until 7 a.m. Sunday.

Salt Lake City, Utah is under curfew Saturday night until 6 a.m. Monday morning.

Mayor Erin Mendenhall said the curfew is due to protests that hit the city on Saturday, and people cannot be on the streets except for certain exceptions.

Utah also deployed the state’s national guard to the city on Saturday.

MINNEAPOLIS — State and local officials had a strong message for Twin Cities residents heading into another night of expected unrest following the death of George Floyd: “Stay home.”

An 8 p.m. curfew would be strictly enforced, major highways would be closed and those on the streets Saturday night will be subject to arrest, Minnesota Governor Tim Walz, Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey and Saint Paul Mayor Melvin Carter said Saturday night.

“Don’t go out of your homes; don’t make things more difficult,” Walz said. 

The officials joined a number of federal leaders who distinguished between peaceful protestors and “extremists.” But after nights of escalating violence, Frey said even peaceful protests weren’t welcome after curfew.

Earlier Saturday, the governor and mayor alleged many of the protesters inciting violence and causing destruction were from outside the state.

However, a civil arrest list provided by the public information officer of the St. Paul Police Department shows 12 of the 18 people arrested from Thursday through 6 a.m. Saturday were from Minnesota. Five of them are from St. Paul, three are from Woodbury (part of the Twin Cities metropolitan area), two are from Minneapolis, one is from Mankato and one is from St. Louis Park. Four are from out of state and two did not have cities of residence listed. 

The mayor later acknowledged the majority of arrests so far have been of Minnesota residents.

Local officials’ increasingly strict stance comes after days of violence in the city, with Thursday night’s unrest being the most chaotic as protesters breached a police precinct building and set it on fire.

Floyd, a 46-year-old black man, died Monday after a white Minneapolis police officer kept his knee pressed into his neck for more than eight minutes, sparking dozens of protests against police brutality across the country.

City-by-city look: George Floyd protests continue Saturday, cities begin issuing curfews

Thousands of people took to the streets nationwide and hundreds were arrested Friday and into early Saturday morning, resulting in injuries to protesters and officers. By sunrise, at least three people had died amid the protests.

Demonstrations continued throughout the day Saturday in dozens of cities, and more protests were planned and curfews issued for Saturday evening.

Follow USA TODAY reporters Trevor Hughes and Tyler Davis for reports from the scene. Our live blog will be updated throughout the day. Here are the latest developments:

• Minnesota Department of Transportation announced multiple highway closures in the Twin Cities, starting at 7 p.m. Saturday. “Routes will remain open for motorists to exit downtown areas,” the department tweeted.
• The Minnesota National Guard planned to deploy as many as 10,000 troops to respond to unrest in Minneapolis.
• The Pentagon said Saturday it was ready to provide military help to authorities scrambling to contain unrest in Minneapolis. Walz has not requested federal troops.

Who is causing the violence? Extremists are hijacking peaceful protests, officials say 

Read this: Experts say knee-to-neck restraint is dangerous, but Minneapolis allows it.

As grocery stores close in Minneapolis, volunteers offer help

Volunteers on the north side of Minneapolis on Saturday afternoon turned parking lots into makeshift markets to combat a dearth of grocery stores in the area.

At the intersection of West Broadway and Emerson avenues, about 250 people filled the lots at U.S. Bank and Episcopal Church in Minnesota to drop off and pick up donations from members of the community.

Amanda Kelli, 18, has relatives who live on the north side and said it’s been a struggle to find food the past few days.

“My family has been looking for somewhere to go grocery shopping — my mom, my dad my grandma,” she said, as she held her baby and chowed on pizza. “But we couldn’t find nothing so we came here.”

All businesses along Broadway appeared to be closed as of Saturday afternoon due to violent protests the past two nights.

Breyonne Golding, a community planner, called the donation effort “healing” for a low-income area usually starved of resources, but even more so now.

“On the north side, there’s only three grocery stores. All of them are boarded up,” said Golding, a native of Connecticut. “It’s about to be the first of the month, where are they gonna get food?”

Omar to Minneapolis residents: ‘Stay home tonight’

Rep. Ilhan Omar asked Minneapolis residents to stay home Saturday night in an effort to isolate “agitators” she says are destroying minority owned business during protests over the death of Floyd.

Omar, D-Minn., represents the district where Floyd was killed.

“Right now, our grief and pain is being exploited. People primarily from outside our city are destroying black and minority-owned businesses in our city,” Omar said. “We can’t let them. Let us all prioritize justice for George Floyd, police reform, alongside the safety of our community and the prevention of more violence. I urge people to stay home tonight so we can better target and isolate these agitators.”

– Sean Rossman

Minnesota National Guard plans to deploy as many as 10,000 soldiers 

The Minnesota National Guard planned to deploy as many as 10,000 troops to respond to unrest in Minneapolis, a massive increase over the 850 now on duty.

Meanwhile, the Pentagon offered to assist Minnesota with active-duty troops. So far, Walz has not sought help from federal troops, according to a statement from Jonathan Hoffman, a Defense Department spokesman.

Walz said this morning that he had spoken with the Secretary of Defense and the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs on Saturday, as well as with mayors across the country, and was “fully mobilizing” the state’s National Guard for the first time in Minnesota’s history.

Walz alleged that the protests were fueled by elements of domestic terrorism, ideological extremists and international destabilization.

‘Stay home tonight,’ officials and community leaders plead

In an afternoon news conference, Minnesota officials asked residents to forgo protests and stay home after 8 p.m. Saturday night so that law enforcement could “remove those folks who are harming us.” Community and faith leaders – including reverends, rabbis, imams and representatives of the state’s Latino, Asian, and Native American communities, as well as the uncle of Philando Castile – encouraged residents to observe the curfew.

“We need to create the space for people to be able to grieve, to come together, to mourn the loss of George Floyd,” Lt. Gov. Peggy Flanagan said in an afternoon news conference. “We cannot do that until community can gather safely … Stay home tonight so that we can remove those folks who are harming us.”

Flanagan said that some of the protesters were “detractors,” “white supremacists” and “anarchists.”

“They are not from our state, and they’re coming from the outside,” and Sen. Amy Klobuchar. “We cannot move forward when people are burning down our city.”

Volunteers begin cleaning up

Across Minneapolis, groups of volunteers spontaneously appeared to begin cleaning up the damage Saturday morning.

Leaning on her shovel while talking, social worker Kara Vangen, 58, said no one should mistake the cleanup as a criticism of the protests themselves.

“I’m supporting the protesting, completely. And this is my neighborhood, so this is part of the healing,” she said, over the scrape of shovels clearing rubble from a burned-out Walgreens.

Wearing face masks, Anton Reuter and Beno Boda, both 17, picked up trash strewn in the street.

The two, who live nearby, said they had heard reports that troublemakers from outside downtown Minneapolis have been flooding into the area last night causing damage. They wanted people to know that those who live here care about this neighborhood.

“It’s not going to get better waiting on the government,” Boda said. 

Morning in Minneapolis: Firefighters put out blazes, clear rubble

As Saturday morning dawned in Minneapolis, authorities had moved back into some formerly contested areas, and firefighters with the Minneapolis Fire Department poured water onto a still-smoldering gas station in the Hiawatha area as a small crowd watched. No police were present.

Over on Lake Street at Columbus Avenue, members of the Minnesota National Guard controlled access to the streets, their Humvees and trucks blocking the road as firefighters and public works officials tried to shut off leaking gas lines and clear rubble from the road.

Because some areas lost power, drivers collided yesterday when speeding through stoplights that weren’t working, and their abandoned crashed cars were then set ablaze. Broken glass from shattered windows and bus stops crunched underfoot.

“This is sad. It’s very emotional right now. I just had to come down and see it,” said Brian Ledin, 58, who lives in a nearby suburb but was born in the area.

Smoke rose from an O’Reilly Auto Parts store and CenterPoint energy workers searched for broken gas lines.

Report: Military police could be dispatched to Minnesota

The Pentagon on Saturday ordered the Army to put military police units on alert to head to Minneapolis on short notice at President Donald Trump’s request, the Associated Press reports, according to three people with direct knowledge of the orders who did not want their names used because they were not authorized to discuss the preparations.

According to the AP report, soldiers from Fort Bragg in North Carolina and Fort Drum in New York have been ordered to be ready to deploy within four hours if called. Soldiers in Fort Carson in Colorado and Fort Riley in Kansas have been told to be ready within 24 hours. 

Fired Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin arrested, booked

Derek Michael Chauvin, 44, was arrested Friday and charged with third-degree murder and manslaughter in connection to Floyd’s death. He was booked into the Ramsey County Jail. 

A criminal complaint that references body cameras worn by the four now-former officers involved in the incident sheds additional light on what happened on Memorial Day in the moments before and after Floyd’s death. 

The Hennepin County Attorney’s complaint said Chauvin had his knee on Floyd’s neck for 8 minutes and 46 seconds, including two minutes and 53 seconds after Floyd was non-responsive. Read more.

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