A protest over the death of African American George Floyd in police custody continued for the third day despite a curfew in Colorado's state capital on Saturday.
Several thousand people began the peaceful protest at noon, marching through downtown Denver, chanting "hands up, don't shoot," as both National Guard and Denver police officers were dispatched to cope with the situation.
As protests in the last two days led to violence such as vandalizing vehicles, more police were recruited Saturday by the Denver authorities for help.
Demonstrations and riots have spread to more than 30 cities in the United States after a video went viral of Floyd being suffocated to death by a white police officer in the mid-western state of Minnesota on Monday.
Denver's African American Mayor Michael Hancock criticized local protesters who resorted to vandalism and violence in a speech earlier on Saturday and issued in the afternoon an emergency curfew citywide from 8:00 p.m. to 5:00 a.m. local time for Saturday going into Sunday.
Colorado Governor Jared Polis has authorized the use of the Colorado National Guard to help restore order in Denver.
However, two hours after the curfew started, protesters were congregating at intersections around the city, defying the curfew and police crackdown.
Hancock then said on Channel 4 News: "We have seen enough."
The Denver mayor also told the media that axes, knives and explosives were confiscated and that an extreme minority of protesters were involved in destructive activities.
Policemen fired tear gas, pepper balls and flashbangs at protesters in a bid to clear them off the Capitol area in the afternoon. Only three arrests had been reported by 9 p.m.(0300 GMT Sunday), but later the police responded more aggressively to make many more arrests.
Some political pundits said they believe that the widespread protest had more to do with Americans' frustration over the Trump administration's politically divisive tactics than the actual murder of Floyd by a white police officer.
"This has nothing to do with Floyd's death," Hancock told the media Saturday night.
Many said the policies of the Trump administration's strategy to divide the United States were on display throughout the country this weekend.
They accused Trump of repeatedly and openly condoning or supporting hate groups during his presidency, which was unprecedented for a U.S. president. For example, in 2017, Trump said there were "very fine people on both sides" of clashes at a white supremacist rally in Charlottesville, Virginia.
