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Up to 200,000 protesters are expected on the streets of the US capital today. PA Images

Washington DC braced for largest protest yet as Biden attacks Trump for 'despicable' George Floyd comments

There were zero arrests during demonstrations in the US capital in the last two days, and a curfew has been lifted in advance of today’s protest.

AUTHORITIES IN WASHINGTON DC are expecting today to be the largest demonstration against police brutality in the city since the killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis.

The US capital has featured daily protests for the past week and they have largely been peaceful, with people marching back and forth from the White House to the Capitol and the Lincoln Memorial.

Army Secretary Ryan McCarthy told reporters yesterday that local officials were projecting between 100,000 and 200,000 protesters today.

Metropolitan Police Department chief Peter Newsham would not commit to a number but predicted it would be smaller than the one million people who attended the Women’s March in 2017.

It comes as authorities have sought to reduce tensions by having National Guard troops not carry weapons.

There were zero arrests during demonstrations on Thursday and yesterday and DC Mayor Muriel Bowser cancelled the curfew that had been in place since Monday. She said she will decide on Saturday morning if it will be reinstated.

Floyd, a handcuffed black man, died on 25 May after a white police officer pressed his knee against his neck, ignoring his “I can’t breathe” cries.

Bystander video sparked outrage over Floyd’s death and protests, some violent, that spread across the US and beyond.

Three fired police officers were charged with aiding and abetting murder in Mr Floyd’s death.

‘Frankly despicable’

virus-outbreak-trump Trump signing an executive order on commercial fishing yesterday. Patrick Semansky / PA Images Patrick Semansky / PA Images / PA Images

Other cities in the US are braced for similar large-scale protests against racism and police brutality. 

Yesterday, President Donald Trump sparked fresh controversy by saying it was a “great day” for Floyd when referencing better-than-expected jobs numbers.

He told reporters that such violence as Floyd’s death in handcuffs cannot be allowed to happen.

Nevertheless, Trump added, “Hopefully George is looking down right now and saying this is a great thing for our country.”

“This is a great day for him. It’s a great day for everybody,” he said. 

Joe Biden, the now-confirmed Democratic nominee for November’s election, slammed Trump for invoking Floyd’s name.

“George Floyd’s last words, ‘I can’t breathe,’ have echoed across our nation and around the world. For the President to try to put any other words in his mouth is frankly despicable,” he tweeted.

Violence

america-protests-illinois John Starks John Starks

In Buffalo, New York, two policemen were suspended without pay after a video showed them shoving over a 75-year-old protester who fell and suffered a head injury.

Reporting the suspension on Twitter, Mayor Byron Brown said he and the police commissioner were “deeply disturbed” by the video.

An earlier police statement said the man, who appeared unconscious and bleeding heavily from the head, “tripped and fell.”

Governor Andrew Cuomo called the incident “wholly unjustified and utterly disgraceful,” in a tweet.

In solidarity with their fellow officers, however, all 57 officers in the Buffalo Police Department riot squad have reportedly resigned

In Indianapolis, police launched an investigation after a video emerged showing at least four officers hitting a woman with batons and firing pepper balls at her on Sunday night.

And in New York City on Thursday, officers baton-charged dozens of peaceful protesters defying a curfew in the Bronx after pinning them in, leaving them with nowhere to run, several reports said.

New York Police Commissioner Dermot Shea announced yesterday that two officers had been suspended following “several troubling incidents,” one for pushing a woman to the ground and another for pulling down an man’s face mask and spraying pepper spray at him. Both incidents were caught on video.

Meanwhile, Reverend Al Sharpton said the Washington rally he announced this week was being planned for 28 August, the anniversary of the day Martin Luther King gave his “I Have a Dream” speech.

He said the August event would be a way of maintaining momentum as the legal process against the men charged in Floyd’s death is under way.

He said: “It’s going to be months, if not a year, before you even go to trial. So you can’t let this peter out … otherwise you’ll end up in a year and people will go on to another story, and you will not have the public notice and pressure that you need.”

With reporting from AFP

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    Mute Rory Mcloughlin
    Favourite Rory Mcloughlin
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    Oct 21st 2012, 2:30 PM

    Tell this to all the obese ladies out there, it’s gone shocking lately..

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    Mute Maria Farrell
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    Oct 21st 2012, 3:05 PM

    Great idea Rory.
    The thing is, when all those girls have slimmed down to what you deem acceptable, you unfortunately will still be single on account of the fact that you’re an odious excuse for a man.

    542
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    Mute Paddy Mac
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    Oct 21st 2012, 3:09 PM

    Unfortunately Rory is right, it’s a disgrace the amount of obesity in this country and its largely down to laziness, it’s so simple for them to get up of their behinds and go for a walk

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    Mute Maria Farrell
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    Oct 21st 2012, 3:12 PM

    Paddy, his comment was aimed specifically at “ladies”. He’s more concerned with aesthetics than the health of the general population.

    211
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    Mute Rory Mcloughlin
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    Oct 21st 2012, 5:05 PM

    Maria, I’m afraid there is something slightly wrong with your comment, I have a bodyfat % of 8.5 and a girlfriend who works part time in Abercrombie whilst in college, obesity is down to laziness, you don’t wake up one
    morning and realise your massive it occurs through lack of excessive and excessive consumption of unhealthy foods.

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    Mute Maria Farrell
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    Oct 21st 2012, 5:22 PM

    Thank you Dr Rory for your professional assessment of the causes of obesity. And as nice as it must be for you to have a girlfriend who works in a clothes shop, I still don’t really see what that has to do with you attacking obese “ladies” specifically.

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    Mute Megan
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    Oct 21st 2012, 5:36 PM

    I don’t know why you aimed your comment at women Rory. Have you not seen all the men with beer bellies protruding over their belts? Obesity doesn’t affect women alone.

    185
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    Mute Rory Mcloughlin
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    Oct 21st 2012, 5:49 PM

    Can’t we all just get along <3

    23
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    Mute Maria Farrell
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    Oct 21st 2012, 5:57 PM

    We’ll get along when you stop being a misogynist.

    181
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    Mute Stephen Hayden
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    Oct 21st 2012, 10:03 PM

    I checked with every other man in Ireland and we all agreed to vote Rory out.

    143
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    Mute Niamh May
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    Oct 21st 2012, 3:14 PM

    Oh I must get off my lazy ass when im finished picking up after my children…. and my fella! Are men exempt from obesity???

    153
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    Mute Maria Farrell
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    Oct 21st 2012, 3:22 PM

    It seems so, according to Dr. Rory up there. He has a PhD is misogyny, don’t you know.

    172
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    Mute Dean McDonnell
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    Oct 22nd 2012, 10:50 AM

    Yes, as a man you don’t need to worry about weight, you just need to have a massive cock… ney accent… The girls go mad for it, something about the pronunciation I hear….

    14
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    Mute Gillian Byrne
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    Oct 21st 2012, 5:17 PM

    Rest assured Rory I have plenty of self respect!!!! Yes I am overweight and yes I do have a gym membership which I use!!! Not everyone is obviously as motivated as you Rory!! Maybe getting up at 5.30am each morning,driving into Dublin City Centre to work in one of the busiest hospitals for hours then to drive home and care for a young family has adequate time to do what you obviously do???? Don’t tarnish obese people with the same brush!!!! Don’t be so narrow minded!!!!! One should wait until they have their own family and see how life changes!

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    Mute Rory Mcloughlin
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    Oct 21st 2012, 5:26 PM

    If you work as hard as you say you do then the problem is your diet, if you have self respect you’d make a lifestyle change in what your consuming and maybe you’ll avoid spending most your time in hospital when your older, and I’m not talking about you working in it.

    44
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    Mute Paul Stewart
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    Oct 21st 2012, 5:34 PM

    Agree with you Rory, Irish people in general do not look after themselves! We eat and eat, pure crap and do nothing on a daily routine to keep ourselves in shape. It is so different when you go abroad and everyone is normal weight! Too many take aways and too many hot chicken rolls every day for lunch probably do not help! Btw, being over weight is unhealthy and just because you have kids cannot make u overweight :) Kids do not force you to eat crap!!!

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    Mute Rory Mcloughlin
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    Oct 21st 2012, 5:41 PM

    To be honest I started off earlier trolling for a few red thumbs off women, but on obesity in Ireland It’s a disgrace, takes 20 minutes of cardio a day to keep active. You need to have a calorie surplus of 3500 to gain one pound and that’s a lot of food. It’s beginning in the children in recent times and the excuse is they want to eat bad food. Stop feeding your kids shite and they won’t be puddings and be bullied for it.

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    Mute Gillian Byrne
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    Oct 21st 2012, 5:44 PM

    Thanks for the advise. One shall take note of your wonderful expertise!! As it seems you have an answer for everything!!!! As I sign off I’ll pass on some advise of my own. In my 10 years of nursing I can recall hundreds of healthy, fit & active people who have been hospitalised or many that have subsequently died despite their fitness or diet. Maybe we don’t have full control of what the future holds for us!?! I do however understand that it is important to keep fit and be healthy that was never my argument. It was simply that maybe you should refrain from such offensive comments. It’s very easy to pass comment or judgement but be prepared for it in return!

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    Mute Niamh May
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    Oct 21st 2012, 5:50 PM

    @rory and @Paul, I do agree we are getting more and more obese, however, rory, I’m sure you know its not just ” ladies ” men are obese too.

    62
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    Mute William Grogan
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    Oct 22nd 2012, 3:48 PM

    Gillian, that’s an odd comment from a nurse! Obese people, like smokers, have a much worse health outlook. That’s not to say non smoking normal weight people won’t get ill, it’s just far less likely.

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    Mute Lj Traynor
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    Oct 21st 2012, 3:26 PM

    If he says we are obese girls then we obviously are! The mirrors have been lying to us all these years!

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    Mute Niall F
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    Oct 21st 2012, 10:15 PM

    ‘Ive a girlfriend who works in Abercrombie’. You clown. I think she needs to go to specsavers. Whilst shes there see if she can find you a pair of mens shades. Some people are ‘addicted’ to food, much like alcohol or cigarettes. They get a bit fat, feel down and go back to their addiction for comfort. It’s a wholesale change in education and attitude that will bring about change. 20 min cardio might work for some but it sure wont for others, there’s no quick fix for it.

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    Mute Oisin Mulchrone
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    Oct 22nd 2012, 3:26 AM

    @Rory For the record Abercrombie have yet to open their store in Ireland, just saying… is you’re girlfriend one of the burly builders…?

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    Mute Niall F
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    Oct 21st 2012, 10:21 PM

    ‘A calorie surplus of 3500 to gain a pound’ am laughing away to myself. I smell a ‘gym doctor’ here. You know them, all the answers and technobabble you need to get on the front cover of men’s health haha ‘if you pull this bar sideways it’ll actually make your guts spectre an enzyme that puts you off rashers which is why I look awesome’ haha

    58
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    Mute Gillian Byrne
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    Oct 21st 2012, 4:33 PM

    What a lovely comment Rory!!! I take it you’re single with a comment like that!?!?!? And rightly so too!!! We may not all be as slim as catwalk models but here’s the thing maybe we’re happy in our own skin!!!! People like you make me sick, that you actually think ya have the right to pass comment on others!!! One could search the world looking for perfection but would return empty handed as it does not exist! Maybe think before you speak next time Rory rather than be perceived as a shallow human being!!!! Or is that what you want, attention!?! Get a life!!!!

    56
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    Mute Rory Mcloughlin
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    Oct 21st 2012, 5:07 PM

    No I’ve a wonderful girlfriend who has something many women in Ireland lack these days…….self respect. Get off your backsides and do a bit of exercise.

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    Mute Niamh May
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    Oct 21st 2012, 5:40 PM

    As the oul fella said…. I’m glad I’m perfect!

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    Mute poppysmith
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    Oct 22nd 2012, 12:24 PM

    Yes Rory, of course, weight loss is that simple – what about those people who are unable to exercise to their full capacity due to a long-term injury, what about people undergoing certain treatments in which they have to take massive amounts of steroids which causes massive weight gain, what about young women who’ve fought with bulimia for 20 years and as a result it has messed up their metabolism and their relationship towards food so much they wish it was as simple as a bit of exercise!

    The world isn’t black and white Rory and there’s more to life than image. I know skinny size 8 women with high cholesterol and who smoke 40 a day and drink regularly and never exercise yet society and people like you would view such women as healthier than a curvy size 14 women who exercises regularly and eats a balanced diet. Health over image is the key Rory and to tar anyone who’s overweight as lazy is just pure ignorant!

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    Mute fizi_water
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    Oct 21st 2012, 7:38 PM

    Strange observation Rory, I wanted to say something quite opposite.
    I see so many people around me walking, running, exercise etc. I feel bit ashamed I never do it regularly as I used to. I honestly don”t see that many obese people these days, maybe just bit overweight sometimes. But your rant about body fat level, eating, etc. does not work for everyone, as people have different metabolism levels and different gene pools. I know some people who have fried / fast food EVERY lunch and dinner, no exaggeration, and they’re skinny as rake. I need to watch what I eat all the time for a change as I get bigger right away, while I love many foods and can’t really help it :-) Only serious workout can balance this out for me.
    I bet you are the type who can eat pretty much anything and stays the same weight so it’s easy to slag people :)

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    Mute David Kennedy
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    Oct 21st 2012, 8:29 PM

    Nothing tastes as good as skinny feels

    25
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    Mute David Kennedy
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    Oct 21st 2012, 8:29 PM

    Sorry typo… should have read as ‘skinny fries,’

    97
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    Mute Not Eric R
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    Oct 22nd 2012, 10:52 AM

    obese wimmins coming here, stealing all our food. It’s not right Joe

    18
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    Mute fizi_water
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    Oct 21st 2012, 8:42 PM

    10. Reward Yourself



    Hmmm off to Burger King? :)

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    Mute aibhran
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    Oct 21st 2012, 4:18 PM

    why do I have felling Rory spend more time getting ready for night out than I do. ya PEOPLE are putting on pound but its the life style and ready maid foods Rory just been douch about it. good tips buy way its not easy at start two get in two.

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    Mute Andrew Dunne
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    Oct 21st 2012, 10:55 PM

    It’s a battle once u give up the cigs tho, so hard to keep the fab at bay

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    Mute Niall F
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    Oct 21st 2012, 10:22 PM

    ‘Secrete’. I hate auto-correct.

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    Mute William Grogan
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    Oct 22nd 2012, 3:57 PM

    I’m still in shock after reading there’s 600 calories in a portion of prawn crackers :((

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    Mute Niamh May
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    Oct 22nd 2012, 12:00 AM

    Our country is fecked. Cut child benefit, cut social welfare. Put a charge on water that you cannot drink. A charge on a home we’re never gonna be able to pay for.

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