US Department of Justice says probe into George Floyd's death top priority

Women hold signs while protesting near the area where a Minneapolis Police Department officer allegedly killed George Floyd. (AFP photo)

The United States Department of Justice said in a statement on Thursday that it had made a federal investigation into the death of George Floyd a "top priority" and has assigned experienced prosecutors and investigators to the case.

Protests raged for a second night in Minneapolis on Wednesday in an outpouring of rage over the death of Floyd, a black man who was seen in a widely circulated video gasping for breath as a white officer knelt on his neck. Floyd died on Monday. (Reporting by Nathan Layne in Wilton, Connecticut and Maria Caspani in New York Editing by Gareth Jones)