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Protests decrying the killing of George Floyd have been in full swing here in the States for days now -- but over the weekend, a bunch of celebs got in on the action ... as did international partakers who seem just as outraged.

Several stars were spotted out in L.A. over the weekend taking part in the protests -- many of which started out peacefully, but eventually turned destructive -- including folks like Nick Cannon, Halsey, Machine Gun Kelly, Yungblud, Mod Sun, Tinashe, Ariana Grande, Paris Jackson, Madison Beer, Courtney Easton, Ross Lynch, Tyler the Creator, Emily Ratajkowski, Kendrick Simpson, Jeremy Meeks, Lauren Jauregi, Jaz Sinclair and more.

Elsewhere were even more famous faces, like J. Cole and Meek Mill. Tons of celebrities also spoke out online, like Billie Eilish who bashed anyone who backed "All Lives Matter."

That was just here in our own backyard -- but the demonstrations for George did NOT end at our borders along the Pacific or Atlantic oceans ... a handful of other countries held their own protests from afar. Places like Berlin, London, Tokyo, Toronto and others featured their own BLM protests ... with many citizens facing off with their own police forces.

Jake Paul was in the middle of a mall that was being looted Saturday night, and he's taking lots of heat for it.

The YouTube star was at Fashion Square in Scottsdale, Arizona, and you can see in the video, the looters are stealing tennis shoes and pretty much everything that isn't nailed down.

You don't see Paul steal anything, but he's right there as everyone around him destroys shops and steals what's inside.

One of the most ridiculous comments on social media ... Jake is a millionaire, so he doesn't need to loot. That logic justifies looting for some, and that's just plain wrong.

Van Jones said it best ... most people -- regardless of color -- condemn the violence. To make things better, the folks who constantly turned a deaf ear to police brutality need to speak out as loudly, and maybe we can make some progress.

It was a remarkable sight ... a cop puts down his baton and helmet and joins protesters in solidarity.

It went down Saturday in Michigan's Flint Township, where Genesee County Sheriff Chris Swanson engaged protesters in the wake of George Floyd's brutal killing at the hands of rogue cops.

Swanson had a real conversation with some folks in the crowd, saying, "This is the way it's supposed to be ... police working with the community. When we see injustice, we call it out on the police side and on the community side. All we had to do was talk to them, and now we're walking with them."

He added, "The cops in this community, we condemn what happened. That guy [Chauvin] is not one of us."

And, with that ... the Sheriff and some of his deputies joined the crowd assembled in a Target and began marching. They were united for more than 2 hours, and the march ended at Flint's police station, where things could have otherwise gotten out of hand. They were met by a line of deputies decked out in riot gear. The protesters and cops began talking, and it all ended with fist bumps and hugs.

It's a clever and memorable way to get your right of passage during a pandemic ... diplomas delivered to grads on jet skis!!!

It went down Saturday in Florida. Graduating seniors hopped on their jet skis and got their prized certificates.

To show they are people of responsibility, the seniors from the Somerset Island Prep school wore life jackets underneath their gowns.

The principal was safely planted on a nearby boat, bestowing the diplomas on graduates -- with the help of a pole -- as they coasted by.

The principal said, “This final ceremony for our seniors represents the same theme that has played out throughout the entirety of their time at Island Prep,” adding, “That no barrier is too large to overcome and that through creativity and hard work we can overcome any challenge.”

It looks like a segment from the TV show "Supermarket Sweep" ... as scores of looters tear through a store on a famous Beverly Hills street.

It's a ground view of looting where you can really see what these folks are doing inside the store, and it's all about stealing merchandise.

Looters ignored the 8 PM curfew Saturday night as they amped up what was going on during daylight hours. Check out the video of looters pilfering all they could carry at the Alexander McQueen store on Rodeo Drive.

They also set fires to multiple businesses in L.A., especially in the Fairfax District and Melrose Ave., trashing store after store. Many of the stores were mom and pop, so the likelihood that they can stay in business with the vandalism combined with the impact of the coronavirus ranges from slim to none.

Some of the other stores that were looted ... Apple Store and Nordstrom.

A rogue vigilante started firing arrows at protesters in Utah this weekend -- and it cost him (and his car) dearly almost instantly.

The scene was filmed Saturday in Salt Lake City, where protests and riots are in full swing right now ... as they are in many other parts of the country. Apparently, a group of protesters had blocked off the road somewhere there in town, and one man had had enough.

He emerged from his vehicle with a hunting bow he had on him and supposedly starting brandishing it toward the crowd ... seemingly threatening to shoot arrows at people. One woman had a brief convo with the guy, asking if he's serious ... and if he considers himself American. He says he does, and then appears to start actually firing at some folks.

It looks like one person might've been hit as they fell to the ground, and when the man turned and tried shooting at some more people ... he got bum-rushed with a BUNCH of bodies, who proceeded to beat his ass and take him to the ground.

That's not where the story ends though for this sap -- according to the woman who shot this, SLC PD retreated and allowed protesters to light the guy's car on fire -- which was captured on video as well. According to her, the guy was taken into custody in the end.

That's just the latest and craziest thing happening right now around these United States -- just as harrowing of a scene was unfolding in NYC too ... where it looks like a police car drove into a crowd of protesters who were behind a barricade.

Doesn't seem things ended too well for that vehicle either ... as people immediately started piling on and attempted to destroy the thing.

George Floyd appeared to be getting roughed up in the back of a police car shortly before he was pinned and killed -- and a new angle shows one cop was definitely standing watch.

The new surveillance footage -- obtained by activist Shaun King -- shows what happened after George was led away by Minneapolis police after he was cuffed and detained from across the street. This seems to show what happened right before George was taken out of the car and forced to endure the weight of 3 grown men on top of him ... which ended with Derek Chauvin as the last man kneeling on his neck, costing him his life.

Now, we see that something hectic was happening in the back of the SUV officers had Floyd in -- it looks like two officers on the street side had their door open, as did one officer along the sidewalk ... and they were all moving about frantically, which appears to indicate some type of physical altercation taking place. The 4th officer stands watch nearby.

Eventually, they get George out of the car -- and, well, we've all seen what happened next. What's crazy about this is that the one guy who was assigned as lookout clearly sees the surveillance camera that caught all this ... as he looks directly at it for a brief second.

He's also got his head on a swivel, making sure no one else is around or videotaping.

As you know by now ... all four cops here lost their jobs, and one of them has been arrested and charged with murder and manslaughter. These two newest videos showing what role the other officers played leading up to George's final breaths are quite revealing though.

It's clear now that protesters are NOT afraid of physically clashing with police, and it's also clear ... cops don't always have the upper hand, like these two Chicago PD officers here.

Check out this chaotic scene that was captured and posted Saturday out in the Windy City, where a couple of cops got into it with a swarm of protesters that had gathered around them following some sort of physical altercation with at least one of them.

That led to pretty much everyone else standing by to get in on the fracas by yanking the two officers off and away from the guy they appeared to be detaining. Literally ... they full-on stripped them back, and then DRAGGED one of the cops for a good 7 or 8 feet.

BTW, the cop that got dragged appeared to be a woman. What's even crazier is that it was other protesters that jumped in to finally break it up and actually form a protective circle around the 2 policemen. Good thing they did too -- those folks looked ready to pounce.

Derek Chauvin, accused murderer of George Floyd, has a camera focused on him round-the-clock, and cops check on his cell regularly -- all the hallmarks of a suicide watch.

A source at Ramsey County Jail in St. Paul, MN -- where Chauvin is detained -- tells TMZ, he was brought in late afternoon Friday, and didn't make eye contact with anyone upon his arrival ... before beginning the check-in process.

We're told Chauvin was put through an unclothed body search to look for any hidden contraband. Then, he put on a jail uniform and they led him off to a single cell in a special wing of the facility for high-profile cases.

For now, our source says Chauvin is in isolation and being watched constantly. There's a camera in his cell watching him 24/7, as well as guards monitoring the feed 24/7. On top of that, he's getting checked on in-person every 15 minutes.

While our source wouldn't use the term suicide watch to characterize Chauvin's circumstances -- other law enforcement sources tell us, yes, that's effectively what's happening at the jail.

That's not to say officers there believe Chauvin is suicidal, per se -- we're told the 15-minute checks are standard for that section of the jail ... but in the same breath, our sources say they want to make sure nothing happens to him while he's in custody.

Our source says Chauvin will be in his cell 23 hours a day -- with one hour of rec time in an enclosed area. He has access to books, pencils and paper -- not much else. He's also got a bed bolted to the floor with a pillow sewn to it.

We're told, as of Friday, the jail staff was unaware of any threats against Chauvin's life. He faces 3rd-degree murder and 2nd-degree manslaughter charges for kneeling on George's neck for 8 minutes and 46 seconds.

There are even more celebs than we initially thought out in L.A. protesting the death of George Floyd -- including, but not limited to, Emily Ratajkowski and Halsey.

Em posted some shots she took from the hectic scene Saturday -- and Halsey's still streaming live on Instagram right now. Not only that, but a new curfew has been put into place in Los Angeles by none other than the Mayor himself, Eric Garcetti.

He says, "We will always protect free speech and Angelenos’ right to live without fear of violence or vandalism. To increase safety for demonstrators, law enforcement and all citizens of Los Angeles, we are putting a curfew in place from 8 p.m. to 5 a.m."

Machine Gun Kelly is one of a handful of famous faces on the ground in Los Angeles protesting George Floyd's death ... and he's making his voice be heard loud and clear.

MGK was spotted marching with a bunch of other L.A. normies who took to the streets Saturday as part of the latest rounds of protests decrying George's killing. Kelly had a mask on, but you could easily tell it was him. We'd recognize those tats anywhere.

He had a sign with him that read, "Silence is Betrayal." Looks like fellow rappers/pop stars, Mod Sun and Yungblud, were with him too. No sign of Megan Fox, though. In any case, it certainly proved to be a rowdy affair ... someone set a cop car on fire at one point.

Kelly's presence probably shouldn't too much of a surprise. He posted a heartfelt message on the situation Friday, making it very clear where he stood on this.

MGK wrote, "If you look like me and you have racism in your heart, and on your mind, and coming out your mouth, f*** you. I'm ashamed of you. If you enjoy my music or you like my movies, I don't want you watching, I don't want your business. F*** you. I don't want nothing that's a part of the evil agenda...step up and speak out for our fellow people going through all this hell right now."

BTW ... halfway across the country, there was another celeb sighting ... J. Cole! The MC was spotted joining a protest in downtown Fayetteville, NC -- his original stomping grounds.

Good on them.

The city of Bev Hills just announced they have closed Rodeo Drive.

As more riots break out into straight-up looting across the U.S. in the wake of George Floyd's death ... high fashion luxury stores are preparing for the worst as well.

A bunch of top-shelf retail giants out in D.C. scrambled Saturday to have their windows and doors boarded up, once again, on the heels of massive looting that's been taking place in several cities ... where some protesters are starting to hit up and bust through the priciest shops to take what they can amid all the chaos. Case in point, Dior and Gucci out in ATL.

Someone captured video of some guys trying to break through Gucci's windows at Phipps Plaza about a day or so ago, and not too far away ... a Dior store had been ransacked and cleaned out. Reports of looting going down at the ritzy Lenox Square mall surfaced as well.

In light of all that craziness, it would seem managers heading up this strip of high fashion retail in the middle of CityCenterDC got the memo ... and hired construction crews to start barricading their shops. It's crazy -- some of these guys said they'd just gotten done taking the wood panels down at a lot of these stores ('cause of D.C. being allowed to open up again) but were called shortly thereafter and told to board these places back up once more.

Ditto for some shops out in Beverly Hills, including the Gucci location there. Workers were quickly putting up wood boards on their windows as well. Not just that ... they were clearing the sidewalk trash cans, too, which they said was being done as a safety precaution.

Check it out -- sounds like L.A. protesters are coming in hot around the corner. 😬

Elon Musk and co. are officially ready for round 2 of takeoff, just days after calling off their monumental space mission ... and TMZ is streaming the event live.

A couple of NASA astronauts are set to be launched into orbit Saturday via SpaceX's Falcon 9 rocket and accompanying the Crew Dragon capsule, which will be blasting off from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The mission has been dubbed, Demo-2.

Of course, Saturday's mission was supposed to go down Wednesday -- but it got pushed back due to bad weather ... something the space team there didn't wanna toy with and risk. Now, they're running it back with a predicted 50/50 chance of acceptable conditions.

The team is sending these astronauts to the International Space Station -- 250 miles or so above the Earth. This would mark the first spaceflight launched from U.S. soil in just under a decade. The point of the mission is to see if we're able to taxi astronauts to and from the ISS and Earth -- something Elon's rocketship proved to be capable of a few years ago when SpaceX first secured a multi-billion dollar contract with NASA and passed some tests.

Looks like the two American astronauts being sent up there -- Doug Hurley and Bob Behnken -- are already suited up and aboard the spacecraft. SpaceX says all systems are a go (for now) ... and everything seems primed for an actual launch -- barring any unforeseen mishaps (like an explosion at the launchpad or a lightning storm or something).

Originally Published -- 11:53 AM PT

King Louis XVI lost more than his head in Kentucky -- a statue of the guillotined monarch lost its hand too ... and a long lost family member of the guy wants it good as new ASAP.

ICYMI ... a protester in Louisville hopped up on the historical landmark that's smack-dab in the middle of downtown with a massive crowd swarming about, and when he jumped down, he took ol' Louis' right hand with him! Literally, that piece broke clean off at the wrist.

A reporter there said the protester "made off" with the hand. It's unclear if that's entirely accurate or not -- although some of the protesters were reportedly seen passing it around and flaunting it shortly afterward -- but, in any case, the statue is currently hand-less ... and officials seem to have come up empty-handed in locating/replacing it quite yet. 👋🏽

All jokes aside, it would appear the vandalism on King Louis has caught the attention of an actual presumed blood relative of the man himself -- a guy by the name of Louis Alphonse of Bourbon ... whom, as recognized by Legitimist royalists, is the rightful successor to the French crown. Supposedly, he's a senior agnatic descendant of KLXVI ... meaning, he comes straight from the male side of the fam all the way through the 21st century.

LAB said of the defacement, "As the heir of #LouisXVI, and attached to the defense of his memory, I do hope that the damage will be repaired and that the statue will be restored. I already thank the Authorities for the measures they will take for that."

Some people are giving Louis Jr. here s**t for making a big deal about a piece of rock when there are way bigger issues at play right now. Also, people are pointing out that King Louis wasn't necessarily seen as a friend of the people back in the late 1700s -- remember, he got beheaded during the French Revolution when they did away with kings, etc.

Looks like the outrage over George Floyd's death has trickled over to a part of society that doesn't usually hear about stuff right away -- yes, it's the Amish ... that, or their peaceful brethren.

A group of about 10 people dressed in Amish-esque garb (plain, old-fashioned clothes from the 1800s or something) were spotted out Friday in Minneapolis -- before the latest round of nighttime chaos began -- with signs showing solidarity with George Floyd protesters.

They were singing songs in a chorus together -- possibly hymns -- and a lot of them were holding signs that reflected what a lot of other protesters in town have been shouting at the top of their lungs ... "Justice for George Floyd." One sign said just that -- others read, "I Can't Breathe," "Thou Shall Not Kill Any Man," and "Standing Against Systems of Oppression."

They were getting rounds of applause from the crowd that had gathered around them, and a lot of surprised reactions online too. Many simply couldn't believe the Amish had even heard about George Floyd -- seeing how they're so isolated and technology-less and all -- which then led to some speculation that these good folks here might not be Amish at all.

Some people are speculating this group might be Mennonites -- which are slightly different from the Amish, in that they're allowed to use basic technology and usually pull up in actual vehicles as opposed to horse-and-cart buggies. Others said the might be mere Quakers.

George Floyd had the weight of 3 full-grown men on him -- not just Derek Chauvin on his neck -- when he was killed ... as a new angle of the deadly incident reveals.

The video, obtained by NBC News, is from the opposite side of the street from the original video ... so, for the first time, we can see the other 2 now ex-officers, who not only subdued him in handcuffs ... but kept him pinned down for more than 8 minutes.

Throughout the 16 seconds of video, you can hear George saying he can't breathe and begging, "Please let me stand."

In the horrific original video, we only saw Chauvin with his knee on George's neck. This new clip was shot sometime earlier.

As we reported, Chauvin maintained his knee on George's neck for 8 minutes and 46 seconds ... according to the criminal complaint. Also, for 2 minutes and 53 seconds of that time, the 46-year-old man was non-responsive.

The complaint also says one of the other 2 officers, seen in this new video on George's back and legs, suggested they flip him on his side when he said he couldn't breathe.

Chauvin's mugshot has just been released.

Former Minnesota police officer Derek Chauvin has been charged with 3rd-degree murder and 2nd-degree manslaughter, and according to the complaint he created "an unreasonable risk and taking a chance of causing death or great bodily harm to George Floyd."

The D.A. announced the charges Friday and said Chauvin is in custody, but the other 3 officers are still under investigation and no charges have been filed ... at least not yet.

According to the complaint, an officer approached George Floyd's car and ordered him out at gunpoint, claiming he passed counterfeit currency. Once Floyd put his hands on the steering wheel, the cop holstered his gun.

The complaint says George "actively resisted being handcuffed." Once in cuffs, however, he became compliant, according to the complaint.

The complaint is based, in part, on the various body cam videos the D.A. reviewed. Cops told George he was being arrested for passing bogus money, and then walked him across the street to a squad car, where George "stiffened up, fell to the ground, and told the officers he was claustrophobic."

At that point, according to the complaint, Chauvin arrives on scene in his squad car. According to the complaint, cops made several attempts to get George in the back of the squad car, but he would not voluntarily go and struggled.

While standing outside the car, George repeatedly said he could not breathe. This is before Chauvin put his knee on George's neck.

At 8:19 PM, Chauvin pulled George out of the squad car and Floyd went to the ground, handcuffed. There are 2 other officers on George's back and legs -- you can't see them in the video, but this is the moment when Chauvin placed his left knee on George's neck.

George keeps saying, "I can't breathe" and "Mama" and "please." The officers said to George, "You are talking fine." One of the other officers said, "Should we roll him on his side?" and Chauvin replied, "No, staying put where we got him."

Another officer said, "I am worried about excited delirium or whatever." Chauvin said, "That's why we have him on his stomach."

At 8:24 PM, George stopped moving, and at 8:25 PM video appears to show him cease breathing or speaking.

At this point, another officer checks George's wrist for a pulse and says, "I couldn't find one." None of the officers moved from their position. At 8:27 Chauvin finally removed his knee. In all, Chauvin had his knee on George's neck for 8 minutes, 46 seconds ... 2 minutes, 53 seconds of that was AFTER GEORGE BECAME UNRESPONSIVE.

According to the complaint, "Police are trained that this type of restraint with a subject in a prone position is inherently dangerous."

The autopsy says George had underlying medical conditions, including coronary artery disease and hypertensive heart disease. The M.E. said, "The combined effects of Mr. Floyd being restrained by the police, his underlying health conditions and any potential intoxicants in his system likely contributed to his death." These are preliminary findings pending toxicology tests.

The M.E. does say there were no "physical findings to support diagnosis of traumatic asphyxia or strangulation."

The 3rd-degree murder charge carries a max sentence of 25 years.