NATIONWIDE — Minnesota authorities say the police officer who knelt on George Floyd has been arrested.

Officer Derek Chauvin was arrested Friday as part of the investigation into Floyd's death while being detained by police. He's facing third-degree murder and manslaughter charges.

Police say Floyd resisted arrest. But video surfaced on social media from bystander that showed Floyd pleading that he could not breathe as a white officer, Derek Chauvin, knelt on his neck during the arrest and kept his knee there for several minutes after Floyd stopped moving.

Minneapolis’s mayor has since apologized for the actions of his police department.

Protesters continue to gather around that Minneapolis police precinct overnight after those protesters set fire to it late Thursday night.

Video from the overnight showed that police station fire and the riots erupted outside of it. Reports overnight indicate protesters pushed over a fence placed up around the police station, set fire to it and were still gathered around it as it burned on Friday morning.

Tens of thousands of people have been taking to the streets in Minneapolis since Tuesday night when police say they were arresting Floyd, 44, after he allegedly matched the description of a suspect in a forgery case on Monday.

During the overnight, Mayor Jacob Frey explained why he felt it was necessary to get the police out of that police precinct that is now burning.

"It became clear that there were imminent threats, to both officers, and public. And the danger was the danger became necessary. And I made the decision to evacuate the third precinct," he said.

Frey defended the city’s lack of engagement with looters — only a handful of arrests across the first two nights of violence — and said, “We are doing absolutely everything that we can to keep the peace.” He said Guard members were being stationed in locations to help stem looting, including banks, grocery stores and pharmacies.

On Tuesday, Frey appealed for the activation of the National Guard.

Early Friday morning, President Donald Trump blasted the “total lack of leadership” in Minneapolis. “Just spoke to Governor Tim Walz and told him that the Military is with him all the way. Any difficulty and we will assume control but, when the looting starts, the shooting starts,” he said on Twitter.

Twitter flagged the president’s tweet, saying that it had violated its rules about glorifying violence.

On Thursday, Trump signed an executive order that was aimed to address “censorship” by Twitter and other social media companies, according to the White House. CNN reported the president was upset that Twitter decided to add fact-check labels to two of his tweets about mail-in voting ballots.

The U.S. Attorney’s Office and the FBI in Minneapolis said Thursday they were conducting “a robust criminal investigation” into the death. Trump has said he had asked an investigation to be expedited.

The FBI is also investigating whether Floyd’s civil rights were violated.

The four police officers involved in Floyd’s arrest have been fired, but Floyd’s family and protestors nationwide want those officers to face murder charges.

The Associated Press contributed to this story.