Hundreds of demonstrators took to the streets in Minneapolis on the eve of Derek Chauvin’s trial.
The demonstrators, carrying flowers and Black Lives Matter signs, marched downtown on Sunday, a day before the trial for the disgraced ex-police officer, who has been accused of killing George Floyd, is set to begin. Jury selection is supposed to take place starting on Monday.
Six people at the rally, some of whom were friends of Floyd’s, carried a white casket covered in dozens of roses, according to the Star Tribune. A large peaceful group trailed behind the casket carriers singing Bob Marley, Prince, and Sam Cooke. At one point during the rally, attorney and activist Nekima Levy Armstrong read a fraction of the names of the more than 470 people who have been killed in Minnesota since 1984.
DEATH AND ‘AUTONOMOUS ZONE’ GRIP GEORGE FLOYD SQUARE AHEAD OF CHAUVIN TRIAL
“The city had four chances to stop Chauvin before he put his knee on George Floyd’s neck, and they did nothing,” Michelle Gross, the founder of Communities United Against Police Brutality, the nonprofit organization that compiled the list, told the crowd. “These are people whose families are left to grieve. These are people who will never complete their life’s mission because their lives were stolen from them prematurely.”
Chauvin has been charged with second-degree murder and manslaughter. The other three officers who were at the scene at the time have been charged with aiding and abetting murder and manslaughter. Last week, a court of appeals decided that the judge presiding over Chauvin’s case must reexamine whether to charge him with third-degree murder, a charged that was dropped in October.
Minneapolis has begun to take precautions to prepare for possible unrest following the outcome of the trial after much of the city was decimated by weekslong violence, arson, and looting following Floyd’s death.
City officials promised residents a robust security response in downtown Minneapolis for the duration of the trial, with the local government spending millions of dollars on new police officers and protective barricades around the courthouse and City Hall.
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The three other officers, J. Alexander Kueng, Thomas Lane, and Tou Thao, are set to be tried in August. Lane was said to have held Floyd’s legs, Kueng allegedly held down his back, and Thao appeared on video warding off unruly bystanders.
