US President Donald Trump was rushed to a special secure bunker by the Secret Service agents as protests raged outside the White House over the killing of George Floyd on Friday night.

As the protests turned violent with agitated people throwing bricks and bottles and shouting curses at Trump, the “Secret Service agents abruptly rushed the president to the underground bunker used in the past during terrorist attacks”, the New York Times reported.

Floyd’s death in police custody in Minneapolis on Monday has sparked protests in several cities across the US, including Washington DC. 

The shocking death last Monday of an unarmed black man, George Floyd, at the hands of police in Minneapolis ignited the nationwide wave of outrage over law enforcement’s repeated use of lethal force against unarmed African Americans.

The US president has been widely criticized for his response to the protests that have rocked the nation since the video of Floyd’s death began spreading on social media.

Trump spent nearly an hour in the bunker, which was designed for use in emergencies like terrorist attacks, according to a Republican close to the White House who was not authorized to publicly discuss private matters and spoke on condition of anonymity.