[custom_adv] The United States has been gripped by protests over the death of George Floyd, an unarmed Black man who died last week in police custody in Minneapolis, Minnesota, and police brutality nationwide. [custom_adv] Lawyers representing the Floyd family said independent medical examiners who conducted an autopsy on Floyd's determined that asphyxiation from sustained pressure was the cause of death. [custom_adv] Protesters are demanding all four officers involved be charged in Floyd's death. So far, only one - white officer Derek Chauvin, who knelt on Floyd's neck for nearly nine minutes as the Black man pleaded, "I can't breathe" - has been arrested and charged on Friday with third-degree murder and manslaughter. [custom_adv] Those protesting against police brutality have been met with, at times, excessive force by authorities. Two officers were fired over the weekend in Atlanta, Georgia, for pulling two Black people out of a car and throwing them to the ground. [custom_adv] Videos have shown police targeting angry but peaceful protesters with tear gas and mace. Journalists have also been targeted by police. [custom_adv] Protesters have remained undeterred by curfews and the presence of the US National Guard in some cities. Some largely peaceful protests turned violent, with looting and vandalism as the night raged on. [custom_adv] Protesters running amok. Innocent citizens under siege. Outside actors engaging in terrorist acts. Police struggling to maintain control and in desperate need of reinforcements. [custom_adv] That was how Chinese state media portrayed anti-government protests in Hong Kong last year, dismissing calls for greater democracy and an investigation into police brutality by focusing on individual acts of violence and property damage. [custom_adv] Throughout the protests, the US was consistent in its support of people's right to take to the streets and have their voice heard. Facing widespread unrest and public anger at home in the wake of the death of George Floyd, the reaction from US President Donald Trump appeared markedly different. [custom_adv] On Monday, Trump called for the military to be deployed to "dominate" protesters, and demanded states do more to stem "acts of domestic terror." [custom_adv] The irony has not been lost on Beijing, which on Thursday marks (or rather doesn't, the date is highly censored) its own military crackdown on anti-government protesters on June 4, 1989. [custom_adv] "Washington's promise of equality and justice for all in the country has remained hollow at best," state news agency Xinhua said in a commentary titled "The coming suffocation of the American dream." [custom_adv] Amid the ongoing anti-racism protests in the country, decision-makers in Washington, instead of trying to sooth the pain and anger of the public, have been fanning the flames, calling protesters 'THUGS,' and threatening them with 'the most vicious dogs, and most ominous weapons," the commentary said. [custom_adv] China Daily, a state-backed newspaper, noted that "The US, after the killing of Floyd, seems to be on fire, and troops have been mobilized to subdue angry demonstrators." [custom_adv] "This is certainly not what the world expects to see in a country that is the world's sole superpower," it added. "But that sadly is the reality of the US."