More protests planned in CT as George Floyd memorialized

As national protests touched off by the death of George Floyd entered their 10th day Thursday, Connecticut organizers have announced plans for more upcoming demonstrations.

In New Canaan, demonstrators sang “The National Anthem” and “Stand By Me” after gathering at Saxe Middle School late Thursday afternoon.

Five other communities had gatherings planned for Thursday, as well as in the state capitol.

The planned protests follow several large marches in Connecticut on Wednesday over the death of Floyd, an African-American man who died in custody after a Minneapolis police officer was filmed kneeling on his neck for more than eight minutes.

Mourners gathered in Minneapolis Thursday for a memorial service for Floyd led by the Rev. Al Sharpton. It was one of three events planned.

“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,” Sharpton saying during his eulogy. “It’s time for us to stand up in George’s name and say, ‘Get your knee off our necks!’”

On the same day, an investigator in Georgia said a white man accused of fatally shooting Ahmaud Arbery, a black jogger, had called him a racist slur in the moments following the Feb. 23 shooting, multiple outlets reported.

The news came amid a week of demonstrations in Connecticut, where protesters held marches Wednesday in Stamford and Danbury, including shutting down a section of I-84 for about an hour.

More protests are planned this week and next.

In Trumbull, organizers plan to hold a vigil Saturday at the Town Hall gazebo starting at 11 a.m.

In Milford, town native Kira Cassandra organized a “solidarity protest” for Black Lives Matter and Floyd on Monday.

Cassandra, who said she knew Jayson Negron and was friends with Mubarak Soulemame, both teens shot and killed by police, planned the protest to begin at 3:30 p.m. at the gazebo on the city green.

“This protest is all about solidarity, and since Milford is my hometown, I decided to take point,” Cassandra said.

Matthew Brown / Hearst Connecticut Media Protesters in Stamford on Wednesday.

Kerem Yucel / Getty Images U.S. civil rights leader Al Sharpton, left, stands with others as they bow their heads during a memorial service in honor of George Floyd on Thursday at North Central University's Frank J. Lindquist Sanctuary in Minneapolis.

Matthew Brown / Hearst Connecticut Media Protesters shout "I Can't Breathe" as they march on Wednesday from Stamford’s Scalzi Park to Columbus Park, pausing for prayer before continuing to the Stamford Police Station to stage a peaceful protest calling for justice in the senseless death of George Floyd. Over a thousand protesters took part in the event.