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Live Updates on George Floyd Protests: Global Rallies Decry Racism and Police Brutality
Police departments across the United States are re-examining their use-of-force policies. And health officials are warning about the risk of spreading the coronavirus.
Right Now
Services begin at a memorial for George Floyd in Raeford, N.C.
Here’s what you need to know:
- Large protests against police brutality are expected across the world.
- Around the world, protesters take a stand against racism.
- Mourners gather for George Floyd memorial in North Carolina
- Officers’ treatment of a Buffalo protester faces a criminal inquiry.
- Coronavirus cases emerge among some who have attended protests.
- Police departments re-examine their use-of-force policies.
- The attorney general says Trump’s walk for a church photo-op expedited an order to clear a park.
Large protests against police brutality are expected across the world.
Protesters across the United States, Australia and Europe were staging major demonstrations on Saturday, in the latest sign that anger over police violence has not abated since the killing of George Floyd in Minnesota last month.
In response, some American cities are cracking down on overly aggressive policing with an urgency never seen before. On Friday, city leaders and judges in Minneapolis, Denver and Seattle moved to rein in tactics like officers’ use of chokeholds, tear gas or rubber bullets.
In recent years, reform efforts to curb police violence were aimed at accountability for officers or legislative changes, but the current wave of protests has amplified calls across the country to defund, downsize or abolish police departments altogether.
“We are going to dismantle the Minneapolis Police Department,” Jeremiah Ellison, a member of the City Council, said on Twitter this week. “And when we’re done, we’re not simply gonna glue it back together,” he added. “We are going to dramatically rethink how we approach public safety and emergency response.”
After an 11th consecutive night of protests, the size of the demonstrations is expected to grow in what is becoming a nationwide movement against systemic racism and police brutality. In Washington, where people have been gathering this week to express outrage at the White House, thousands are expected to converge downtown. The Police Department said it would close many streets from 6 a.m. until midnight.
The nationwide anger over Mr. Floyd’s death has led to largely peaceful protests by daytime, in some cases followed by looting and violence later at night. In some instances, the police have responded by using batons, tear gas, pepper spray and rubber bullets on protesters, bystanders and journalists. As videos of police aggression spread in recent days, lawmakers, police officials and judges have re-examined police departments’ use-of-force policies.
On Friday, Minneapolis officials announced a ban on the use of chokeholds and strangleholds. Gov. Gavin Newsom of California called for the removal of neck restraints from the state’s police training programs, and Seattle’s police chief said she was banning the use of tear gas on protesters for at least 30 days.
In Denver, a federal judge limited officers’ ability to use tear gas and fire rubber bullets at them, adding that the city’s police department had “failed in its duty to police its own.”
The protests are also raising public health concerns, as officials caution about the risk of spreading the coronavirus. Dr. Anthony S. Fauci, the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, said in a radio interview on Friday that he was “very concerned” that gatherings of any kind were “a perfect setup for the spread of the virus in the sense of creating these blips that might turn into some surges.”
Around the world, protesters take a stand against racism.
Protests were being held in cities around world on Saturday over the death of George Floyd and police brutality in the United States, even as health officials warned that large gatherings could increase the risk of new coronavirus infections.
Thousands were expected to gather for anti-racism protests in Britain, France and Germany, following marches earlier in the day that drew thousands in cities like Tokyo and Sydney. And while many of the global protests were inspired by the unrest in the United States, they have also pointed to issues of racism and police brutality at home.
Thousands of people gathered at Parliament Square in central London, filling up the square and the streets around it despite the cold weather and spitting rain.
Though most people were wearing face masks, their collective chants could be heard loud and clear: “George Floyd,” “Black Lives Matter” and “No justice, no peace.”
Silence fell in the square for about a minute when everyone knelt on the wet ground and most raised their fists in the air. All around, hundreds of messages could be read on cardboard posters getting damp by the rain.
Rahma Mohammad, a 37-year-old history teacher, said things needed to change systemically.
“It’s been discussed historically, but it’s never been resolved,” she said.
Standing next to her was Victoria Weakerly, 42, who was holding a placard that read: “I’m social distancing from my white privilege.” She said that being at the protest and supporting the Black Lives Matter movement was more important than the coronavirus.
“I feel safe here among these people,” she said.
In Paris, the authorities have barred people from gathering in front of the U.S. Embassy, but thousands are expected to protest there and near the Eiffel Tower, echoing a protest on Wednesday that drew nearly 20,000 people to remember Adama Traoré, a Frenchman who died in police custody in 2016.
In Germany, Chancellor Angela Merkel called the killing of Mr. Floyd “terrible” and “racist.” “We know ourselves that we know something of racism here, and have a lot to do regarding that — I would like to say that clearly,” she said in an interview with the German broadcaster Deutsche Welle. “But I trust in the power of democracy in the United States, that they will be able to come through this difficult situation.”
And in cities and towns across Australia on Saturday, tens of thousands rallied in support of the Black Lives Matter movement, despite a warning from Prime Minister Scott Morrison that large gatherings could harm efforts to control the pandemic.
Masked protesters, angry in part over the government’s treatment of Aboriginal people, shouted, “I can’t breathe,” and held signs saying “How many more?” and “Australia is not innocent.” The intensity, scale and scope of the demonstrations seemed to dwarf anything the country had seen on the issue of race in years.
Mourners gather for George Floyd memorial in North Carolina
The body of George Floyd lay in a plush blue coffin, dressed in a tan suit and brown tie. His face bore a serene and peaceful look.
Inside a Free Will Baptist church in tiny Raeford, N.C., Mr. Floyd’s body had been returned to the state of his birth for a public viewing Saturday morning. His coffin was surrounded by floral arrangements, left by mourners despite a Floyd family request for no flowers.
One by one, peeling off from two lines of hundreds of people, each lined up in the searing morning sun, mourners filed past the coffin in silence. Some murmured prayers. Others whispered softly, “God bless,” or simply, “Peace, brother.”
Church officials in black suits and white shirts handed out bottles of water, gently urging people to move quickly so that others in the growing lines outside would have an opportunity to pay their respects. One minister filtered slowly through the crowd, telling mourners, “I know it’s hot, but bless you for coming out.”
Another church official separated mourners into groups of 20, with each group given a few seconds to pass by the coffin and pay their respects. As people posed for selfies in front of the church, the official told everyone to put away their phones before entering.
“No phones out. No photos. No foul language,” he said. “This is a respectful service.”
The crowd filed past a phalanx of state Highway Patrol vehicles and police officers at the church parking lot entrance. The mood was serene, with only short, occasional chants of “Say his name — George Floyd!” and “No justice, no peace!”
It was church officials and ushers, not police officers, who shut down the chants. The family had requested that there be no demonstrations or protests, said Sheriff Hubert A. Peterkin of Hoke County, who helped the family organize the viewing. A private memorial service was scheduled in Raeford for later this afternoon.
One vendor passed through the crowd, selling face masks that read “I Can’t Breathe.” Several mourners wore T-shirts bearing the messages, “I Can’t Breathe” or “We Can’t Breathe.”
Taylor Guary, fanning herself in the humid air, said she had come to the church from nearby Fayetteville, where Mr. Floyd’s was born, “to support the Floyd family and the entire African-American community.”
Ms. Guary, 25, who is African-American, said she had grown up “with rose-colored glasses” regarding race relations.
But after the death of Mr. Floyd in police custody and the harsh treatment of some demonstrators around the county, she said, “I see things for what they are.”
“It’s important that we all keep coming out until things change,” she said.
Officers’ treatment of a Buffalo protester faces a criminal inquiry.
transcript
Buffalo Police Shove Man to the Ground
Police officers knocked a man down on a sidewalk in Buffalo on Thursday as he tried to talk to them. The 75-year-old man appeared to hit his head and lie motionless on the ground.
“Move back!” “Hey!” [gasps] “He is bleeding!” “Bleeding out his ears, bleeding out of his ears.” “Call a medic! Call a medic!” “He’s bleeding out of his ear.” “Get a medic.” “What the [expletive] you walking up on me?” [unclear] “Oh [expletive].” “Back up. Back up. Get off the steps, let’s go, get back. Get back!” “Better get an ambulance for him.” “He’s — there — we have EMT on scene.”
A video of Buffalo police officers shoving a 75-year-old protester and then walking past him as he bled has become the focus of a criminal investigation that could yield charges as soon as this weekend.
Prosecutors said on Friday that they were investigating the episode, and two officers were suspended without pay after the video showed them toppling Martin Gugino, an activist and member of the Western New York Peace Center.
News outlets in Buffalo published text messages saying that the local police union was asking officers to support their suspended colleagues on Saturday at Buffalo City Court, where they were expected to face charges.
Mr. Gugino was taken for treatment for the head injury to the Erie County Medical Center. He was in serious but stable condition and was alert and oriented on Friday, a hospital spokesman said.
After the two officers were suspended, all 57 of their colleagues on the Emergency Response Team resigned from the team in support, the president of the Buffalo police union said on Friday. The officers remain employed by the department.
Coronavirus cases emerge among some who have attended protests.
As Americans gather by the thousands to protest the death of George Floyd, scientists have warned that the crowded events could contribute to the spread of the coronavirus. Already, there are signs that those fears were well-placed.
Though no city has yet attributed a major outbreak to the protests, individual demonstrators in several places have contracted the virus, including in Lawrence, Kan., where someone who attended a protest last weekend tested positive on Friday. That person did not wear a mask while protesting, local officials said.
“Similar to what we would ask anyone who goes out in public right now, we are asking anyone who attended the recent protest to self-monitor for Covid-19 symptoms and isolate if they become sick,” Sonia Jordan of the local health department said in a statement.
Across the country, similar tales are emerging. Although the United States has passed a peak in infections and deaths, the virus remains a persistent threat. Around 20,000 new cases are being identified across the country on most days, and about 1,000 new deaths are being announced.
In Athens, Ga., a local commissioner who attended a protest said that she had tested positive. “I am asymptomatic but infectious,” Commissioner Mariah Parker wrote on Facebook. “If you spoke on Sunday or were near me in the crowd, please get tested.”
In Columbus, Ohio, health officials said someone who protested there on May 27 had later tested positive.
And in Oklahoma, a college football player who demonstrated said that he had later tested positive for the virus. “After attending a protest in Tulsa AND being well protective of myself, I have tested positive for COVID-19,” Amen Ogbongbemiga, a linebacker at Oklahoma State University, wrote on Twitter. “Please, if you are going to protest, take care of yourself and stay safe.”
It could be several days, or even weeks, before it is known whether any major clusters emerge from the protests.
“As people gather in large crowds with varying degrees of social distancing,” Dr. Ngozi Ezike, the Illinois Department of Public Health’s director, said in a statement, “there is cause for concern about Covid-19 spread and outbreaks, especially if masks were not worn universally.”
Police departments re-examine their use-of-force policies.
Police departments across the United States are re-examining their use-of-force policies as protesters continue to express outrage over such tactics in the wake of George Floyd’s death.
In Minneapolis, where the police’s use force against blacks far more often than against whites, the authorities said on Friday that they were immediately banning the use of chokeholds and strangleholds. Such tactics were previously reserved for life-or-death situations for officers.
City officials also said officers would be required to intervene and report any use of unauthorized force, a move that comes after nearly two weeks of protests over the death of Mr. Floyd, a black man whom a white Minneapolis police officer pinned under his knee for nearly nine minutes.
On the West coast, Gov. Gavin Newsom of California called on Friday for the removal of neck restraints from the state’s police training programs. And Seattle’s police chief, Carmen Best, said she was banning the use of tear gas on protesters for at least 30 days and calling for a review of the department’s crowd control tactics.
In New Mexico, the Las Cruces Police Department said it was prohibiting the neck restraint technique. The authorities in the city also said on Friday that an officer involved in the killing of a man who fled from a traffic stop in late February would be fired and charged with involuntary manslaughter. Officers tased the man, Antonio Valenzuela, 40, twice as he ran away after being pulled over. Officer Christopher Smelser then used a chokehold technique on him.
And in Colorado, where legislation to ban the use of chokeholds by law enforcement was introduced this week, a federal judge in Denver issued a temporary restraining order on Friday to limit officers’ ability to fire rubber bullets or use tear gas on protesters.
The attorney general says Trump’s walk for a church photo-op expedited an order to clear a park.
Attorney General William P. Barr has moved to distance himself from a controversial episode in which law enforcement in Washington used chemicals and smoke bombs to disperse peaceful protesters to clear the way for President Trump to have his photo taken holding a Bible in front of a church.
Mr. Barr said on Friday that officers had been in the process of following his order to clear Lafayette Park, near the White House, when Mr. Trump decided to walk through, prompting the officers to use more aggressive means to remove protesters from the area.
“They had the Park Police mounted unit ready, so it was just a matter of execution,” Mr. Barr told The Associated Press. “So, I didn’t just say to them, ‘Go.’”
By making a fine-grained distinction between his Monday afternoon order to clear the park and the tactical decision a few hours later to use chemicals, pepper balls and smoke bombs to hurriedly remove clergy and peaceful protesters from Mr. Trump’s path, Mr. Barr’s comments shifted the narrative set by White House officials, who have said that he gave the order to clear the park.
The Trump administration has also come under criticism for using military helicopters along with federal law enforcement officers and National Guard troops, including unidentified agents in riot gear, to quell the protests.
According to military officials, it was top Pentagon officials who ordered National Guard helicopters to use what they called “persistent presence” to disperse protests in the capital this week. The loosely worded order prompted a series of low-altitude maneuvers that human rights organizations quickly criticized as a show of force usually reserved for combat zones.
Ryan D. McCarthy, the Army secretary and one of the officials who authorized part of the planning for the helicopters’ mission Monday night, said on Friday that the Army had opened an investigation into the episode.
Also on Friday, the city’s mayor, Muriel Bowser, said in a letter to the White House that she had asked for the withdrawal of all “extraordinary federal law enforcement” from its streets.
She also renamed as Black Lives Matter Plaza the area in front of Lafayette Square and had city workers paint “Black Lives Matter” in giant yellow letters along the street.
A call to remember black women killed by the police.
As protesters call for an end to police brutality against African-Americans, some are drawing particular attention to the black women whose deaths have come at the hands of law enforcement.
An effort under the hashtag #SayHerName has taken root on social media, and several demonstrations were held on Friday to mark what would have been the 27th birthday of Breonna Taylor, a black emergency medical technician whom the police killed in Louisville, Ky., in March.
In New York City on Friday, hundreds gathered at peaceful vigils to honor Ms. Taylor, including at an event organized by Cherish Patton, 18, in Harlem.
“Our black women are often forgotten, and that is not OK,” she told those gathered, thanking them for “paying tribute” to Ms. Taylor, who was shot and killed by officers who burst into her apartment during a late-night drug investigation on March 13.
Later, a violinist played “This Little Light of Mine” and the event morphed into a short peaceful march, with the demonstrators singing “Happy Birthday.”
Jill Feyer, 39, who was leading a protest near Union Square in Manhattan, said she had been at protests all week. But despite her fatigue, she said she was determined to show up one more time.
“I’m exhausted. We’ve had a police action on my block today,” Ms. Feyer said. “But there was no way I was missing Breonna’s birthday.”
Blacks in corporate America call for profound change in the business world.
In the past week, it has seemed like every major U.S. company has publicly condemned racism. Yet many of the companies expressing solidarity have contributed to systemic inequality, targeted black people with unhealthy products and services, and failed to hire, promote and fairly compensate people of color.
“Even after a generation of Ivy League educations and extraordinary talented African-Americans going into corporate America, we seem to have hit a wall,” said Darren Walker, the president of the Ford Foundation and a member of Pepsi’s board, and who is black.
With a national conversation about racism underway as protesters take to the streets across the country, police killings of black people and the demonstrations that have ensued have unleashed an outpouring of emotion among black executives who have spent their lives excelling at business while overcoming structural discrimination.
Robert F. Smith, a private equity billionaire and the richest black man in America, said he had been overwhelmed by conflicting feelings. “I am saddened, I am angry, I am upset and I am determined,” he said. “I run through that wave of emotions every minute.”
He said that he had reason for optimism for the first time in a long time, and that in the past week he had been inundated with calls from other business leaders wanting to know what they can do.
“This is the first time in my life I’ve seen not just empathy, but engagement,” he said. “This is unacceptable, and other C.E.O.s are asking how they can get involved.”
But there is also a long way to go, Mr. Walker said.
“Corporate America can no longer get away with token responses to systemic problems,” said Mr. Walker, who has been protesting in New York. “It is going to take a systemic response to sufficiently address this crisis that has been decades in the making.”
N.F.L. commissioner says the league should have listened to black players’ concerns earlier.
After President Trump renewed criticism of N.F.L. players protesting during the national anthem, Commissioner Roger Goodell on Friday delivered his strongest support yet for their right to demonstrate to fight racism and police brutality.
In a swift response to a video montage that featured star players asking the league to address systemic racism, Mr. Goodell apologized for not listening to the black players’ concerns earlier and said he supported players’ right to protest peacefully.
During the 2016 season, Colin Kaepernick started the movement within the league when he knelt to call attention to racial injustice and violence by the police, and no team has offered him a contract since then.
Mr. Goodell’s comments were in direct opposition to remarks by the president in defense of New Orleans Saints quarterback Drew Brees, who said this week that it was disrespectful to kneel during the pregame playing of “The Star-Spangled Banner.”
The quarterback apologized on Thursday after immediate backlash. But the president said on Twitter that he should not have backtracked and that people should stand when the anthem is played.
On Friday night, the player directed an Instagram post to the president. “We can no longer use the flag to turn people away or distract them from the real issues that face our black communities,” he said.
A friend of Philando Castile’s is running for office.
transcript
He Was Philando Castile’s Friend. Now He’s Running for Office.
“If we’re not at the table, we’re on the menu.” We followed a Minnesota organizer whose run for office has taken on new urgency since George Floyd’s death.
[sirens] I hated that it had to get to this. I hate that it had to get to where we’re burning down our own establishments in our community. I feel like I’ve known George simply because of the way he died. I’m a black man, and I could suffer the same fate. I’m from right here in the state of Minnesota, man. My best friend was Philando Castile, who was murdered in 2016 by the St. Anthony police officer, Officer Jeronimo Yanez. There’s no doubt in my mind Philando was racially profiled and killed. We’ve always knew that nothing was going to happen to that officer. [crying] I’ll be cool. Some days, I’m cool. Some days I’m not. But I miss my friend. We keep having to deal with police killing black men in this state, and legislation — legislators not doing anything. I still cry about Philando being murdered. And here I am now crying about George Floyd. I can no longer show up, and have my bullhorn, and go to these listening sessions, and they give you two minutes to speak. Like, who are you listening to for two minutes? So I’m just going to jump on the other side of the table. I’m running to be the next State Rep of the Minnesota House of Representatives, because there has to be an accountability piece put into legislation. And the only way we get it into legislation is by becoming legislators, because they’re not going to do it for us. My community is sick and tired of being sick and tired. My community is sick and tired of asking people who can change laws to change laws, and they don’t. Running for office is the hardest work I’ve ever done in my life. But if I don’t, who’s going to do it? Are you scared of the police? Are you scared they may kill your daddy? They tell me that all the time. They’re scared the police may kill their dad. And so I have to show him, what I’m doing right now, that he can do that right there. He could definitely be the next president. He could be the next mayor. But if I don’t show him, who will? For the longest time, there’s always been a room full of white people making decisions for my community. And if we don’t have somebody from the community that has a direct connection, then we get another George. We get another Philando. Does that make sense? If we’re not at the table, we’re on the menu. I’m tired of being on the menu.
In the aftermath of George Floyd’s death in Minneapolis police custody, John Thompson felt a familiar feeling.
“I still cry about Philando being murdered,” Mr. Thompson said. “Here I am now crying about George Floyd.”
Mr. Thompson was friends with Philando Castile, who was shot and killed by a police officer during a traffic stop in July 2016. The incident was captured on video by Mr. Castile’s girlfriend, Diamond Reynolds, who was in the car along with her 4-year-old daughter.
Back then, protests erupted across the country and Mr. Thompson, who met Mr. Castile at work, also took to the streets. The officer involved was acquitted in 2017.
In the nearly four years since Mr. Castile’s death, Mr. Thompson has become an activist and organizer. He has worked with local officials to push for police accountability, and he said he felt as if some progress was being made.
When Mr. Thompson became frustrated that change was not coming fast enough, he decided to run for office after his state representative announced he was retiring.
In our video above, we follow Mr. Thompson as he protests, reflects and considers the path forward.
Reporting was contributed by Davey Alba, Livia Albeck-Ripka, Emily Badger, Mike Baker, Peter Baker, Kim Barker, Ken Belson, Katie Benner, Nicholas Bogel-Burroughs, Julie Bosman, Derrick Bryson Taylor, Julia Carmel, Damien Cave, Emily Cochrane, Nick Corasaniti, Michael Crowley, Elizabeth Dias, John Eligon, Reid J. Epstein, Tess Felder, Lisa Friedman, Thomas Fuller, Matt Furber, David Gelles, Thomas Gibbons-Neff, Katie Glueck, Erica L. Green, Anemona Hartocollis, Christine Hauser, Jack Healy, Shawn Hubler, Thomas Kaplan, Neil MacFarquhar, Iliana Magra, Sarah Mervosh, Benjamin Mueller, Richard A. Oppel Jr., Elian Peltier, Richard Pérez-Peña, Katie Rogers, Simon Romero, Eric Schmitt, Mitch Smith, Derrick Taylor, Neil Vigdor and Daniel Victor.
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