Times Colonist

George Floyd’s death spurs calls for change around the world

- STEVEN SLOAN, DAVID CRARY and TOM FOREMAN

WASHINGTON — Tens of thousands of protesters streamed into Washington and other major U.S. cities on Saturday in another huge mobilizati­on against police brutality and racial injustice, while George Floyd was remembered in his North Carolina hometown by mourners who waited hours for a glimpse of his golden coffin.

Wearing masks and calling for police reform, protesters marched peacefully across the U.S. and on four other continents, collective­ly producing perhaps the largest one-day mobilizati­on since Floyd’s death 12 days ago at the hands of police in Minneapoli­s.

The dozens of demonstrat­ions capped a week of nearly constant protests that swelled beyond anything the United States has seen in at least a generation. After frequent episodes of violence following the black man’s death, the crowds in the U.S. shifted to a calmer tenor in recent days and authoritie­s in many cities began lifting curfews because they experience­d little unrest and no arrests.

On Saturday, authoritie­s in some places seemed to take a lower profile and protests had a festive feel.

On a hot, humid day in Washington, throngs of protesters gathered at the Capitol, on the National Mall and in neighbourh­oods. Some turned intersecti­ons into dance floors. Tents offered snacks and water, tables with merchandis­e and even a snow-cone station.

One Washington protester, Pamela Reynolds, said she was seeking greater accountabi­lity for police.

“The laws are protecting them,” said the 37-year-old black teacher. Among the changes she wants is a federal ban on police chokeholds and a requiremen­t for police to wear body cameras.

Many groups headed toward the White House, which has been fortified with new fencing and extra security measures. Inside the presidenti­al mansion, their chants and cheers could be heard in waves. U.S. President Donald Trump, who has ordered authoritie­s to crack down on unrest, had no public events on his daily schedule.

The demonstrat­ions extended to Trump’s golf resort in Doral, Florida, just outside Miami, where about 100 protesters gathered.

Elsewhere, the backdrops included famous cityscapes. Peaceful marchers filed across the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco and the Brooklyn Bridge in New York. They walked along the boulevards of Hollywood and the street in downtown Nashville, Tennessee, famous for country music-themed bars and restaurant­s.

In Philadelph­ia and Chicago, marchers peacefully chanted, carried signs and occasional­ly knelt silently. Protesters flooded the streets in a massive showing near the Philadelph­ia Museum of Art and its famous Rocky steps, chanting “No justice, no peace,” before setting off for City Hall area.

On top of a parking garage in downtown Atlanta, a group of black college band alumni serenaded protesters with a tuba-heavy mix of tunes. Standing within earshot, black business owner Leah Aforkor Quaye said it was her first time hitting the streets.

“This makes people so uncomforta­ble, but the only way things are happening is if we make people uncomforta­ble,” Quaye said.

In Raeford, North Carolina, a small town near Floyd’s birthplace of Fayettevil­le, people lined up outside a Free Will Baptist church, waiting to enter in small groups. At a private memorial service, mourners sang along with a choir. On display at the front of the chapel was a large photo of Floyd and a portrait of him adorned with an angel’s wings and halo.

“It could have been me. It could have been my brother, my father, any of my friends who are black,” said Erik Carlos of Fayettevil­le. “It was a heavy hit, especially knowing that George Floyd was born near my hometown. It made me feel very vulnerable at first.”

Protesters and their supporters in public office say they’re determined to turn the extraordin­ary outpouring of anger and grief into change, notably overhaulin­g policing policies.

Theresa Bland, 68, a retired teacher and real estate agent protesting at the Ohio Statehouse in Columbus, had a broader agenda in mind.

“I’m looking at affordable housing, political justice, prison reform, the whole ball of wax,” she said. “The world is so askew right now, with people dying from the virus and people dying in prisons and people dying because there’s not enough food.” Some tangible steps have already been taken.

In Minneapoli­s, city officials have agreed to ban chokeholds and neck restraints by police and to require officers to try to stop any other officers they see using improper force.

California Gov. Gavin Newsom ordered the state’s police-training program to stop teaching officers how to use a neck hold that blocks the flow of blood to the brain. The police chief in Bellevue, across the water from Seattle, largely banned officers from using neck restraints, while police in Reno, Nevada’s second-largest city, also updated their use-of-force policy.

Democrats in Congress are preparing a sweeping package of police reforms, which are expected to included changes to police-accountabi­lity laws, such as revising immunity provisions and creating a database of police use-of-force incidents.

Revamped training requiremen­ts are planned, too, among them a ban on chokeholds. The prospects of reforms clearing a divided Congress are unclear.

In New York, two Buffalo police officers were charged with assault Saturday after a video showed them shoving a 75-year-old protester, who fell backward onto the pavement and was hospitaliz­ed. Both pleaded not guilty to second-degree assault and were released without bail. The two were suspended without pay on Friday after a TV crew captured the confrontat­ion.

In London, thousands of demonstrat­ors endured cold rain to gather in Parliament Square, a traditiona­l venue for protests. They knelt in silence and chanted Floyd’s name before applauding his memory and then starting a march. Some clashes between protesters and police broke out near the offices of British Prime Minister Boris Johnson. An estimated 15,000 people gathered in Manchester, while 2,000 people joined in a demonstrat­ion in the Welsh capital, Cardiff.

In Paris, hundreds of people gathered at the Place de la Concorde in defiance of a police ban on large protests. Members of the multiracia­l crowd chanted the name of Adama Traore, a black man whose death while in police custody a few years ago has been likened by critics of French police to Floyd’s death in Minnesota.

Police in the French port city of Marseille fired tear gas and pepper spray in skirmishes with protesters who hurled bottles and rocks.

In Berlin, police said 15,000 people rallied on the German capital’s Alexander Square. About 20,000 demonstrat­ed in Munich, while thousands more took part in protests in Frankfurt and Cologne.

Demonstrat­ors in Sydney and Brisbane highlighte­d Indigenous Australian­s who died in custody.

In South Korea’s capital, Seoul, protesters gathered for a second straight day to denounce Floyd’s death.

In Senegal, people staged a protest in front of the African Renaissanc­e Monument in the capital, Dakar, holding placards with slogans such as “Enough is enough.”

 ??  ?? People protest over the death of George Floyd on 16th Street in Washington on Saturday, with the White House in the background.
People protest over the death of George Floyd on 16th Street in Washington on Saturday, with the White House in the background.

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