PROTESTS BREAK OUT IN HUB.

Hub turns out to speak its mind

Several hundred people turned out in a South End park, saying they were protesting police brutality in the wake of the death of a black man in police custody in Minnesota.

Activist group Mass Action Against Police Brutality organized the protest, which turned into a walk over toward Nubian Square in Roxbury. This comes after the death of Minneapolis man George Floyd, who died when a policeman kept his knee on his neck while trying to arrest him after he said he couldn’t breathe, according to videos and authorities.

Protests of Floyd’s death turned into violent riots in Minneapolis over the past few nights, with buildings — including a police precinct — being lit aflame or otherwise vandalized. Protests have spread to some other cities, including Denver and Atlanta, where they appeared to turn violent, as well, according to the Associated Press.

The Boston rally appeared peaceful as masked protesters spoke, chanted and held signs protesting police brutality. Later, though, video showed protesters being pepper-sprayed outside a police precinct.

Now-fired Minneapolis Police Officer Derek Chauvin, 44, was arrested late Friday morning and charged with third-degree murder and second-degree manslaughter four days after he pinned his knee on Floyd’s neck for nearly nine minutes Monday as Floyd, who was unarmed and handcuffed, told him he couldn’t breathe. Three other officers involvedwere also fired, but they have yet to be charged.

STuART CAHiLL pHOTOs / HERALd sTAFF WALKING IN OPPOSITION: A crowd of protesters moves through the streets of the South End on Friday to show solidarity in the killing of George Floyd, who was killed during an arrest in Minneapolis on Monday.

TALE OF THE TAPE: Don’t Shoot police tape is strung out over the sidewalk in the South End as protesters speak out against the killing by police of a Minnesota man who had been arrested on Monday.

‘I CAN’T BREATHE’: A protester’s mask says ‘I Can’t Breathe,’ which reportedly slain arrestee George Floyd said as a police officer kneeled on his neck for nine minutes, despite the fact he was already handcuffed.