Military police units “prepare to deploy” to Minneapolis.
The Defense Department ordered the Army to prepare active-duty military police units to deploy to Minneapolis as protests over the death of George Floyd engulfed the city for a fourth night on Friday, with businesses set on fire and gunshots fired near a police precinct.
Officials said that the Army on Friday issued “prepare to deploy” orders for military police units from several army bases around the country. The orders came at the behest of President Trump, the officials said, who has been seeking options from his senior national security leaders, including Defense Secretary Mark Esper, for how to deal with the chaotic protests that have ignited in dozens of cities.
They continued with new ferocity on Friday night even after Derek Chauvin, the former Minneapolis police officer who was shown on a cellphone video kneeling on Mr. Floyd’s neck as he lost consciousness, was charged with third-degree murder.
Already, National Guard units have been activated in Minnesota and in other cities — standard for dealing with civil unrest within the country. But deploying military police units would be an escalation in the government response to the unfolding events, officials said. Military police units were used in 1992 during the riots in Los Angeles that followed the acquittal of four officers involved in the beating of Rodney King.
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