Memorial’s fiery message: ‘Get your knee off our necks’
MINNEAPOLIS — Celebrities, musicians and political leaders gathered in front of George Floyd’s golden casket Thursday for a fiery memorial service for the man whose death at the hands of police sparked global protests, with a civil rights leader declaring it is time for black people to demand, “Get your knee off our necks!”
The service — the first in a series of memorials in three cities over six days — unfolded in Minneapolis at a sanctuary at North Central University as a judge a few blocks away set bail at $750,000 each for the three fired police officers charged with aiding and abetting murder in Floyd’s death.
“George Floyd’s story has been the story of black folks. Because ever since 401 years ago, the reason we could never be who we wanted and dreamed to be is you kept your knee on our neck,” the Rev. Al Sharpton said in a fierce eulogy. “It’s time for us to stand up in George’s name and say, ‘Get your knee off our necks!’ ”
Floyd, a 46yearold outofwork bouncer, died May 25 after a white police officer, Derek Chauvin, put his knee on Floyd’s neck for several minutes as he lay handcuffed on the pavement, gasping that he couldn’t breathe. Chauvin has been charged with murder, and he and the others could get up to 40 years in prison.
From coast to coast, and from Paris and London to Sydney and Rio de Janeiro, the chilling cell phone video of Floyd’s slow death has set off turbulent and sometimes violent demonstrations against police brutality, racism and inequality. Some protests continued Thursday.
Those gathered at the Minneapolis tribute stood in silence for 8 minutes, 46 seconds, the amount of time Floyd was alleged to be on the ground under the control of police.
In the U.S., where protests had been marked by bouts of lawlessness since last week, relative quiet prevailed for a third straight night Thursday, a day after prosecutors charged the three other officers at the scene and filed a new, more serious count of murder against Chauvin.
In New York City, a large crowd gathered at Brooklyn’s
Cadman Plaza and chanted “You are not alone” in a rally with one of George Floyd’s brothers.
Peaceful demonstrations continued past the city’s 8 p.m. curfew, even as Gov. Andrew Cuomo and Mayor Bill de Blasio sought to deflect criticism over harsh tactics from police enforcing the curfew the night before.
In Buffalo, N.Y., video from television station WBFO showed an officer appearing to shove an elderly man who walked up to police while they were enforcing a nightly curfew. The man falls backward, hits his head on the pavement and immediately begins bleeding as officers walk past him. A county official tweeted that the man was hospitalized and stable, but his exact condition was not immediately known.
News outlets reported that Buffalo Police Commissioner Byron Lockwood suspended two officers late Thursday.