Atlanta, May 30 (RHC)-- Police deployed tear gas to disperse crowds in downtown Atlanta, according to local media, as the city's mayor pleaded with protesters to go home.

"What I see happening is not Atlanta.  This is not a protest … this is chaos," Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms said at a news briefing as protesters vandalised police cars, setting one vehicle on fire.

In other parts of the city, protesters used barricades to break the windows of police cruisers while others jumped on the vehicles and shattered windshields as they demonstrated against the death of George Floyd.

Hundreds of protesters confronted police outside CNN's downtown headquarters.  Activists spray-painted a large CNN logo outside the building, breaking a window and tagging doors.  One protester climbed on top of the CNN sign and waved a "Black Lives Matter" flag to cheers from the crowd.