Thousands of Minnesota National Guard members and law enforcement officers from all over the state swarmed the streets of Minneapolis and St. Paul as night fell Saturday, quelling some of the unrest that had destabilized the state's two largest cities for several days.

Neighborhoods around Lake Street and Nicollet Avenue became a focal point as groups of protesters converged on the Fifth Precinct station.

Hoping to head off another night of chaos, Gov. Tim Walz said that peaceful protesters and others who remained outside after the 8 p.m. curfew would be "aiding and abetting" vandals who use the crowds as cover for their looting and arson on city streets.

As standoffs intensified across the country on Saturday, officials in Minneapolis vowed to take a harder line against unrest in the streets.

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Heaping violent contempt on an 8 p.m. curfew declaration and on widespread pleas for forbearance and peace, rioters rampaged across Minneapolis for a fourth night Friday and into early Saturday, creating unprecedented havoc as they set towering fires, looted and vandalized businesses and shot at police officers, all in response to the death of an unarmed black man under a white police officer's knee on Monday.

The curfews began at 8 p.m. Friday and extend till either Sunday or early Monday.

Hennepin County's prosecutor announced charges of third-degree murder and second-degree manslaughter against the fired Minneapolis officer Derek Chauvin who killed George Floyd.

Minnesota’s governor said the police and National Guard had been overwhelmed by protests, which raged even after a former police officer was charged with murdering George Floyd.

A somber Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz confronted criticism after a third night of destructive protests in response to George Floyd's death in police custody. A National Guard officer said the mission lacked clarity.

Demonstrators break into a Minneapolis police precinct station after the department abandoned it, setting it ablaze, as protests spread nationwide.

A CNN crew was arrested while giving a live television report Friday morning in Minneapolis – and then released about an hour later – as the crew covered ongoing protests over the death in police custody of George Floyd.

Looting centered on University Avenue in the Midway district, and also hit an East Side shopping mall.

His crew also was taken into custody while covering unrest in Minneapolis.

The US city sees a third night of unrest sparked by the death of George Floyd in police custody.