Stores were set alight and officers fired tear gas and rubber bullets as a wave of protests erupted across South Minneapolis.

Protests Turn Violent in Minneapolis

A destructive wave of protests erupted across South Minneapolis over the death of George Floyd, with the police firing tear gas and rubber bullets as people set buildings on fire and looted stores.

[car alarms] “Yeah.” [shouting] [popping noises] “Yo, yo, yo!” Crowd: “Whose streets? Our streets! “Whose streets? Our streets! “Whose streets? Our streets!” [glass breaking] [shouting] Crowd: “What do we want? Justice! “What do we want? Justice!” [glass breaking] [shouting] [door alarms]

A destructive wave of protests erupted across South Minneapolis over the death of George Floyd, with the police firing tear gas and rubber bullets as people set buildings on fire and looted stores.

Stores were set alight and officers fired tear gas and rubber bullets.

A nearly completed apartment development across the street had been burned to its concrete lower floor. Other commercial structures were also badly damaged.

Mayor Jacob Frey pleaded on Twitter for people to stay at home. “Please, please Minneapolis,” he wrote, “we cannot let tragedy beget more tragedy. Please, help us keep the peace. Stay safe and evacuate the area.”

At a news conference on Thursday afternoon, he said the destructive protests were a reflection of the black community’s anger over 400 years of inequality.

“What we’ve seen over the last two days and the emotion-ridden conflict over the last night is the result of so much built up anger and sadness,” he said.

Mr. Frey declared an “all-out effort to restore peace and security” in the city, and said he has authorized a “unified command structure” to protect infrastructure and communities, particularly during the pandemic.

“In believing in our city, we must believe that we can be better than we have been,” the mayor said. “We must confront our shortcomings with both humility, as well as hope. We must restore the peace, so that we can do this hard work together.”

Mr. Floyd, 46, died on Monday after being handcuffed and pinned to the ground by a white police officer who pressed his knee on Mr. Floyd’s neck for several minutes. A video of the arrest, in which he is heard pleading “I can’t breathe,” spread widely online.

“They executed my brother in broad daylight,” Philonise Floyd told CNN on Thursday morning, breaking down in tears. “I am just tired of seeing black people dying.”

Mr. Floyd’s death also spurred protests in Memphis and Los Angeles, where law enforcement officials faced off with people blocking the 101 Freeway downtown.

Four officers involved in the arrest were fired from the Minneapolis Police Department, and the F.B.I. joined the investigation into the death of Mr. Floyd, a resident of St. Louis Park, Minn. On Wednesday, Mr. Frey, the mayor, called for the police officer who had pressed his knee to Mr. Floyd’s neck to be arrested and charged.

The Justice Department said in a statement on Thursday morningthat it had made a federal investigation into Mr. Floyd’s death a “top priority” and has assigned experienced prosecutors and investigators to the case. The department “urges calm as investigators methodically continue to gather facts,” the statement said.

A fatal shooting near the protests was under investigation.

The police said they were investigating a fatal shooting near a looted pawnshop in the area where the protests occurred.

In a news conference early Thursday morning, a Minneapolis Police Department spokesman, John Elder, said two officers responded to a call near the Cadillac Pawn & Jewelry shop, where they found the victim in grave condition on the sidewalk. He was taken to a hospital, where he died.

Mr. Elder declined to confirm media reports that the victim was involved in looting, or whether the store owner was the shooter.

“That is one of the theories we’re looking into,” he said, noting that the crime is still under investigation. “We want to make sure that we do in fact have all of the facts moving forward. We don’t want to cast aspersions on somebody if in fact they weren’t doing anything wrong.”

A suspect was taken into custody, Mr. Elder said, but he declined to provide the suspect’s identity, citing investigative protocol.

The violence came at the end of what had been a tense period.

Protesters began gathering Wednesday afternoon outside the Third Precinct headquarters, but by early evening, officers were trying to disperse the crowds using flash-bang grenades and tear gas.

Some residents of the area said Thursday that they believed people from outside the city had been responsible for a large portion of the fires and looting.

“This is just painful,” said Cynthia Montana, 57. “I don’t think the people who did the looting and all this destruction are the same as the peaceful protesters that have been at Cup Foods,” where Mr. Floyd was arrested on Monday.

“I’m a protester,” Ms. Montana said. “It was so peaceful over there.”

She said the nearby neighborhood is diverse, but in the broader Twin Cities community, there are huge racial disparities.

“It’s like layer and layer and layer of gunpowder building over a long time,” she said, “and when you become an adult, it’s this stick of dynamite.”