Protesters organize, mobilize across the world in fight against police brutality,
World pays tribute as Floyd is mourned in North Carolina
WASHINGTON — Tens of thousands of protesters streamed into the nation’s capital and other major cities Saturday in another huge mobilization against police brutality, while George Floyd was remembered in his North Carolina hometown by mourners who waited hours for a glimpse of his golden coffin.
Military vehicles and officers in fatigues closed much of downtown Washington to traffic before massive marches. Large protests also took place across the U.S. and overseas, including in London, Paris, Berlin and Sydney, collectively producing perhaps the largest one-day mobilization since Floyd’s death May 25 at the hands of Minneapolis police.
The demonstrations capped a week of nearly constant protests that swelled beyond anything the nation has seen in at least a generation. After episodes of violence in the early stages following Floyd’s death, U.S. crowds shifted to a calmer tenor.
In Philadelphia and Chicago, marchers chanted, carried signs and occasionally knelt silently. Both protests unfolded peacefully.
On a hot, humid day in Washington, throngs of protesters gathered at the Capitol, on the National Mall and in residential neighborhoods. Many groups headed toward the White House, which has been fortified with new fencing and extra security.
The crowd erupted in applause as Mayor Muriel Bowser walked along the portion of 16th Street she renamed Black Lives Matter Plaza.
Washington has seen daily protests for the past week. The faint sound of protesters could be heard Saturday from the executive mansion. President Donald Trump had no public events on his daily schedule.
The demonstrations extended to his golf resort in Doral, Florida, outside Miami, where about 100 protesters gathered.
In Raeford, North Carolina, a small town near Floyd’s birthplace of Fayetteville, a long line of people formed outside a church, waiting to enter in small groups. At a private memorial service later in the day, mourners sang with a choir.
The line of people waiting to view the coffin included families with young children and teenagers. One young woman wore a green and gold graduation cap and gown as she walked beside her parents. Most people wore surgical masks or cloth face coverings.
When a hearse bearing Floyd’s coffin arrived, chants of “Black Power,” “George Floyd” and “No justice, no peace,” echoed from beneath the covered entrance.
“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.”
Protesters and their supporters in public office say they are determined to turn the extraordinary outpouring of anger and grief into change.
One of the Washington protesters, Pamela Reynolds, said she was seeking greater accountability for police.
“The laws are protecting them so I need to see to change with the laws and then that way they can actually get convicted because a charge is not a conviction,” said the 37year-old African American teacher.
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.
Some tangible steps have 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.
Meanwhile 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 with a head injury. Both pleaded not guilty to second-degree assault and were released without bail.
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 starting a march. Some clashes between protesters and police broke out near the offices of Prime Minister Boris Johnson.
In Paris, hundreds 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.