Protesters vow to sustain fight until change happens

Protesters stirred by the death of George Floyd vowed Friday to turn an extraordinary outpouring of grief into a sustained movement as demonstrations shifted to a calmer, but no less determined focus on addressing racial injustice.

In Minneapolis, where Floyd died in police custody, the city agreed to ban police chokeholds and require officers to intervene any time they see unauthorized force by another officer. The changes are part of a stipulation between the city and state officials who launched a civil rights investigation into Floyd’s death. The City Council was expected to approve the agreement, which will be enforceable in court.

The country’s most significant demonstrations in a half-century — rivaling those during the civil rights and Vietnam War eras — resumed for an 11th day nationwide with continued momentum as the mood largely shifted from explosive anger to more peaceful calls for change. Formal and impromptu memorials to Floyd stretched from

Minneapolis to North Carolina, where family members will gather today to mourn him, and beyond.

Josiah Roebuck, a university student who used social media to help gather 100 people to demonstrate Friday in an Atlanta suburb, is confident the momentum will last.

“Once you start, you’re going to see this every day,” said Roebuck, who has attended multiple protests. “I just want minorities to be represented properly.”

Protests across the country had initially been marred by the setting of fires and smashing of windows, but Friday marked the third day of more subdued demonstrations. At a heartfelt tribute to Floyd in Minneapolis on Thursday, the Rev. Al Sharpton outlined plans for a commemorative march on Washington in August, vowing that the movement will “change the whole system of justice.”

Floyd’s body was being taken to North Carolina, the state where he was born 46 years ago, for a public viewing and private service for family today. Then in Texas, where Floyd lived most of his life, services culminating in a private burial will take place Monday and Tuesday.

In Washington, city workers and volunteers painted “Black Lives Matter” in enormous yellow letters on the street leading to the White House on Friday in a sign of local leaders’ embrace of the protest movement. The mural stretched across 16th Street for two blocks, ending just before the church where President Donald Trump staged a photo-op earlier this week after federal officers forcibly cleared a peaceful demonstration to make way for the president and his entourage.

“The section of 16th Street in front of the White House is now officially ‘Black Lives Matter Plaza,’ ” Mayor Muriel Bowser said in a tweet shortly after the mural was completed.

The project follows Bowser’s verbal clashes with the Trump administration over the response to protests over Floyd’s killing. Still, the local chapter of Black Lives Matter took a swipe at Bowser on Twitter by saying the project distracts from their efforts to shift funds from local police to community investment.