* President rants at governors, police and security officials * Law enforcement must ‘dominate’ or ‘look like a bunch of jerks’ * George Floyd killing – latest US updates * See all our George Floyd coverageDonald Trump has urged US governors and law enforcement officials to take a more forceful approach in responding to protests sparked by the death of George Floyd, an African American man who who pleaded for air as a white Minneapolis police officer pressed his knee against his neck for several minutes.The weekend saw the most widespread civil unrest in the US since the assassination of Martin Luther King in 1968.In a group call on Monday morning of which the Guardian obtained a recording, the president, accompanied by attorney general Bill Barr, secretary of defense Mark Esper, and other officials, repeatedly urged participants to act more forcefully.“If you don’t dominate your city and your state, they’re going to walk away with you,” Trump said. “In Washington we’re going to do something people haven’t seen before.”The call came amid alarm across the US, as some protests have descended into rioting and looting. In many states, governors have activated national guard units.Nonetheless, the president repeatedly warned governors against being “overridden” and argued that if they did not dominate protesters, “you’re wasting your time, they are gonna run over you, you’re going to look like a bunch of jerks.”Trump repeatedly blasted New York, Philadelphia and Los Angeles, cities with Democratic mayors, in states with Democratic governors.“New York is going to have to toughen up,” Trump said. “And we’ll send you national guard if you want. What’s going on in New York is terrible, it’s terrible.“Philadelphia, you gotta toughen up … You’ve got a big national guard out there that’s ready to come out and fight like hell.”But Trump also repeatedly praised Minnesota governor Tim Walz, a Democrat, who he said “knocked [protesters] out so fast it was like bowling pins”. He also said Phil Murphy, another Democrat, “did a very good job in New Jersey.”The president described Minnesota as “our experiment” in how to handle the protests.“You had the first part which was weak and pathetic,” he said, “and you had the second part which was domination.”Trump also urged that states should enact laws against flag burning – a first amendment right.Trump repeatedly said the protesters were from the “radical left” and likened the protests to the Occupy Wall Street movement in 2011, speaking favourably of how those protests were forcibly put down.The response was mixed. Maine governor Janet Mills asked for Trump and his team to share intelligence on “professional instigators” from out of state, but also expressed concern about an upcoming visit by Trump.West Virginia governor Jim Justice, a Republican, said: “You come to West Virginia. We’re not going to have a problem here.”“Well, now that sounds a lot different than the governor of Maine,” Trump said. “I think she talked me into it. She doesn’t know me very well.”Illinois governor JB Pritzker said he was “extraordinarily concerned” by Trump’s rhetoric surrounding Floyd’s death, which he said was “making it worse”.Trump shot back that he didn’t like the Democrat’s “rhetoric either” and said he had repeatedly addressed his horror over Floyd’s death, including when he attended a SpaceX launch in Florida over the weekend.Others supported Trump. Arizona governor Doug Ducey said “the more aggressive approach does work”. Maryland governor Larry Hogan said “I agree in peace through strength.”The theme of Trump’s remarks was crush, or be crushed.“They come armed with bricks,” he said. “They come armed with bricks and rocks.”Former vice-president Joe Biden, the de facto Democratic nominee for president, scheduled his own town hall with mayors and elected officials.Across the country, protests have been mostly peaceful by day but some have turned violent at night, buildings set ablaze, shops looted, police firing rubber bullets and tear gas. At least 4,400 arrests have been made, according to the Associated Press.A man was killed in Louisville, Kentucky, after police and national guardsmen “returned fire” while dispersing a crowd. Democratic governor Andy Beshear said the incident would be investigated. In Indianapolis, two were reported dead, adding to deaths in Detroit and Minneapolis.Trump is facing widespread criticism for tweets demanding “law and order”, threatening to unleash “vicious dogs” and blaming fringe leftwing groups for inciting violence – which he did throughout his Monday call.The president, also grappling with the coronavirus pandemic, did not appear in public on Sunday and was not scheduled to do so on Monday. There have been protests outside the White House for three days in a row. On Friday, Trump, his wife, Melania, and their son Barron were rushed to a bunker previously used during terrorist attacks.On Sunday, after a peaceful daytime protest, police and national guardsmen faced supporters as an 11pm curfew approached. Lights illuminating the north of the White House were turned off. Typically they are only turned off when a president dies.At 11pm, police advanced with teargas across Lafayette Park. An area of a few blocks around the White House was thick with smoke. A fire started in the basement of St John’s church, since 1816 the “Church of the Presidents”. It was quickly extinguished.Minneapolis had a largely quiet night after the police vigorously enforced an 8pm curfew, shutting all main highways through the city. A lot of side streets were shut off by makeshift barricades erected by residents seeking to protect their homes. The police blocked junctions.Only a small number of people appeared to defy the curfew, including a group of several hundred who maintained a vigil at the place where Floyd was held for nearly nine minutes with police officer Derek Chauvin kneeling on his neck. The street is now a memorial filled with flowers.Following what Governor Walz described as the restoration of “security and order” on the streets, the curfew was eased to start at 10pm.“We saw large peaceful protests focusing on the systemic changes that get to the heart of why we’re in this situation,” Walz said.Elsewhere, though, violence returned. In Birmingham, Alabama, a Confederate statute was toppled. Protesters hurled rocks and Molotov cocktails in Philadelphia and were hit with tear gas in Austin, Texas. Seven Boston police officers were hospitalised.Thieves smashed into stores beginning to reopen after coronavirus shutdowns. In some places, police tried to calm tensions by kneeling in solidarity with demonstrators. Several journalists reported being targeted by officers, a trend some linked to Trump’s anti-media rhetoric. Biden visited the site of protests in Wilmington, Delaware, talked to demonstrators and expressed empathy for those despairing about Floyd’s killing. On Monday, he met leaders at a predominantly African American church.Trump’s predecessor, Barack Obama, offered advice to the protesters.“If, going forward, we can channel our justifiable anger into peaceful, sustained, and effective action, then this moment can be a real turning point in our nation’s long journey to live up to our highest ideals,” he wrote in a Medium post.
