US prosecutors say a Minneapolis police officer who was sacked following the death of George Floyd will face more serious charges.
Derek Chauvin is now accused of second-degree murder, which includes a level of intention.
Three other former officers have also been charged with helping him.
Floyd, a 46-year-old African-American, died after a policeman knelt on his neck for nearly nine minutes on May 25th.
It has reignited the explosive issue of police brutality against African-Americans.
It comes as the US President Donald Trump threatened to use the military to control demonstrations in his country.
This is something that Mark Kirwan, a Washington DC police officer originally from Co Tipperary, says is not helping the situation.
He said earlier: "We've really been tried and tested.
"Last night I come off a 20 hour shift - I've been punched, I've been spat at, someone tried to steal my police cruiser - but that doesn't make up for the fact that an innocent man was killed in the hands of police officers.
"When I put on the uniform I have to respect everything and everyone as I do in my personal life - and that includes the president of the country - but I've a terrible feeling that he is just agitating everyone in the city and just causing more trouble".
Meanwhile an anti-racism march in Dublin is still set to go ahead this weekend, after organisers of separate events in Dublin and Galway said they were postponing their demonstrations.
Concerns have been raised about such demonstrations after a Black Lives Matter protest in Dublin on Monday was attended by thousands of people, making social distancing impossible.
A number of other events have been planned across the country over the coming days, prompting calls from the Health Minister and other officials for the events to be cancelled due to the continuing coronavirus restrictions.
One group had been planning to hold a demonstration outside the US embassy on Monday afternoon.
However, organisers of that event say they have now cancelled it after 'recent correspondence' with Gardaí.
They are also asking people to not attend the protest in an attempt to "protect organisers from potential prosecution".
