A New York Police Department patrol car has run into protesters in Brooklyn after a demonstration the previous night descended into chaos that left people bloodied and other vehicles burned.
Huge crowds marched through Manhattan, Brooklyn and Queens, sparking New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio to plead for calm.
Many of the demonstrations were peaceful, but as the afternoon drew on, problems mounted.
READ MORE: Follow live coverage of the protests across the USA
Two police cruisers plowed into a crowd of people who had been pelting them with various objects, knocking several to the ground.
Protesters smashed the windows on police vehicles, sprayed them with paint and set another police vehicle on fire.
The protests were among many around the country over the killing of George Floyd by a police officer in Minnesota.
IN PICTURES: US erupts into violence after George Floyd's custody death
Bill de Blasio, New York Mayor said it was a small number of protesters who turned to violence.
"A small number of people in the scheme of things protesting to begin with, very few of whom committed acts of violence, but that few were systematic in their efforts to harm police officers and to create damage to police vehicles, to store fronts, to other property.
"And again that's not going to get us anywhere. So to the peaceful protesters, if any of you are still out there tonight, who are trying to work peacefully for change, let me be very clear.
"We hear your desire to see these issues, relationship between police and community, the need for justice, the need for real change in our society. We hear you loud and clear. We appreciate respect to all peaceful protest. But now it is time for people to go home."
It comes as tense protests over the death of George Floyd and other police killings of black people have grown from New York to Tulsa to Los Angeles, with police cars set ablaze and reports of injuries mounting on all sides as the country convulsed through another night of unrest after months of coronavirus lockdowns
The protests, which began in Minneapolis following Floyd's death on Monday after a police officer pressed a knee on his neck until he stopped breathing, have left parts of the city a grid of broken windows, burned-out buildings and ransacked stores.
The unrest has since become a national phenomenon as protesters decry years of deaths at police hands.
Tens of thousands of people were in the streets across the country, many of them not wearing masks or observing social distancing, raising concerns among health experts about the potential for spreading the coronavirus pandemic at a time when much of the country is in the process of reopening society and the economy.
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