Over 1,700 National Guard soldiers have been deployed in Minnesota as of Saturday morning to help keep the peace amid the protests over the killing of George Floyd, representing the largest domestic deployment in Minnesota's National Guard's 164-year history.

"More than 1,000 additional Citizen-Soldiers and Airmen are activating today. This is in addition to the 700 that were on duty as of late last night," the MN National Guard wrote in a tweet on Saturday morning.

Earlier, Minnesota Department of Public Safety Commissioner John Harrington said over 2,500 officers are currently working at the protest site, adding it's one of the largest civil police forces Minnesota has ever seen.

While some 50 people have already been arrested as the protests continue on early Saturday morning in Minneapolis.

Several U.S. cities have been gripped by violent protests overnight in the wake of the killing of George Floyd, a black man who died in Minneapolis this week after a white police officer knelt on his neck.

From Minneapolis to New York City, Atlanta, and Washington, protesters clashed with police in a rising tide of anger over the treatment of minorities by law enforcement.

The demonstrations broke out for a fourth night despite prosecutors announcing on Friday that the policeman filmed kneeling on Floyd's neck, Derek Chauvin, had been arrested on third-degree murder and manslaughter charges.

While the other three officers, who were also at the scene, were fired but not charged.