‘It’s amazing he touched so many hearts’
Hundreds turn out for memorial service for George Floyd in Minneapolis
MINNEAPOLIS — Hundreds of mourners in Minneapolis Thursday remembered George Floyd, the black man whose death in police custody set off a wave of nationwide protests that reached the doors of the White House and ignited a debate about race and justice.
Philonise Floyd, one of Floyd’s brothers, told a memorial service at a chapel in the Minnesota city’s North Central University that their family was poor and that he and George would wash their socks and clothes with soap in the sink and dry them in the oven because they did not have a dryer.
“It’s crazy man, all these people came to see my brother, it’s amazing he touched so many hearts,” said the brother, wearing a dark suit and a badge with a photo of his brother and the words “I can’t breathe” on his lapel.
Floyd’s death on May 25 has become the latest flashpoint for rage over police brutality against African Americans, propelling the issue of race to the top of the political agenda ahead of the U.S. presidential election on Nov. 3.
Derek Chauvin, 44, was fired from the Minneapolis police force and charged with second-degree murder after being filmed in a widely circulated video kneeling on Floyd’s neck for nearly nine minutes as Floyd gasped for air and repeatedly groaned, “Please, I can’t breathe.”
Police say they suspected Floyd, 46, of using a counterfeit bill to pay for cigarettes.
Huge crowds have defied curfews and taken to the streets of cities across the country for nine nights in sometimes violent protests that prompted U.S. President Donald Trump to threaten to send in the military.
Ben Crump, a lawyer for Floyd’s family, told the memorial service that the police action that day was evil.
“What we saw in that video was evil. So America, as we proclaim as we memorialize George Floyd, do not accept evil. Protest against evil. We cannot co-operate with evil. We cannot co-operate with torture,” Crump said.
Prosecutors levelled new charges against four former Minneapolis police officers implicated in the killing Wednesday.
On Thursday, the three officers charged with aiding and abetting the murder of Floyd made their first appearances in court, where bail was set at $1 million US but would be lowered to $750,000 if they agreed to certain conditions, including forfeiting any personal firearms.
In New York City, which has been hit by looting during the protests, thousands of people attended a memorial event in a Brooklyn park for Floyd.
Many knelt in the grass in the afternoon sunshine in a symbol of protest against police behaviour and chanted, “No Justice. No Peace.”