George Floyd protests mapped: Three revealing maps that show the dramatic scale of America's demonstrations

Hundreds of cities and towns across US hold nightly vigils and protests against police brutality

Cities large and small across the US have participated in protests, vigils and demonstrations following the police killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis, among many recent African Americans whose deaths have galvanised a mass movement against police brutality and systemic racism.

His death rocked the city and state and inspired solidarity marches and protests across the US, while governors have called in their National Guard to boost local law enforcement, overwhelmed by crowds and often responding with brute force from militarised police.

While larger coastal cities have seen massive demonstrations and now ubiquitous footage of police patrol vehicles engulfed in flames and tear gas-filled streets, dozens of cities from the deep South to steel towns across the Midwest have held daily protests against police brutality, often highlighting police killings and abuses within their own communities.

Meanwhile, more than a dozen major cities have imposed curfews to prevent protesters from occupying the streets, while National Guard members have been deployed to at least 23 states and Washington DC.

Curfews have generally fallen from sunset to sunrise, with exemptions for essential workers and journalists.

Looters caused mayhem in several areas, including New York City's central business districts, prompting city officials to extend curfew before sunset, while accounts across the US have reported police placing people in handcuffs and into holding areas after curfew kicked in.

Roughly 17,000 National Guard service members have been deployed over the last several days, joining thousands of other service members deployed during the coronavirus crisis, surging the number of troops across the US to eclipse the number of active-duty service members in Afghanistan, Iraq and Syria.

That brings the nationwide total of active-duty National Guard patrols to nearly 67,000.

On Monday, Donald Trump threatened to send the US military into America's streets if governors didn't activate their National Guard units, while several governors have rejected the Pentagon's request to send service members to Washington DC.

The president said troops would "dominate" America's streets to quell "riots and lawlessness".