Pentagon puts military police on alert to provide assistance to Minneapolis amid riots – reports
30 May, 2020 05:19 / Updated 9 hours ago
The Defense Department has ordered active-duty military police units to prepare to deploy to Minneapolis, which has seen riots sparked by the alleged police killing of an unarmed black man, George Floyd.
Army personnel 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, the Associated Press reported.
Soldiers in Kansas and Colorado have been told to be ready within 24 hours if they are ordered to Minneapolis.
The alert was reportedly put in place on Friday, after US President Donald Trump asked Defense Secretary Mark Esper to devise military options for dealing with unrest in the Minnesota city.
Around 500 members of the Minnesota National Guard are already in the city. The troops have been guarding fire fighters as they put out blazes, and have also participated in dispersing protesters.
Other cities hit by protests and riots have started to deploy military personnel. On Saturday, Georgia’s governor sent 500 members of the state National Guard to “to protect people and property in Atlanta.”