LITTLE ROCK, Ark. (AP) - Authorities in Little Rock said three structure fires that broke out Saturday night appear unrelated to protests in the city over the death of George Floyd, a black man who died after a Minneapolis police officer pressed his knee into Floyd’s neck for several minutes as he pleaded for air and stopped moving.
Little Rock Fire Chief Delphone Hubbard said at a Sunday news conference that the fires were at a church, auto parts store and barbershop in different parts of the city. Investigators “cannot say they were directly related to any of the protesting,” he said.
The largely peaceful protests ended with police firing tear gas and pepper balls on a group that had damaged property and thrown things at officers, officials said. No protesters were arrested and city leaders blamed the destruction on unspecified outsiders.
“It’s our understanding that there were many folks who aren’t from Little Rock, who aren’t from central Arkansas, who aren’t even from the state of Arkansas that came to our city to be destructive,” Mayor Scott Frank Jr. said.
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