Protests Flare as Americans Await Verdict in George Floyd Killer’s Trial

By Staff, Agencies

Protests against police killings flared across the US this weekend, from Minneapolis to Chicago to Portland, as Americans wait for a verdict in the trial of the white police officer charged with murdering George Floyd last year.

Closing arguments are expected in the Derek Chauvin trial on Monday. The most serious charge the former Minneapolis officer is facing in Floyd’s death is second-degree murder, but the jury might choose to find him guilty on third-degree murder or manslaughter, or acquit him altogether.

Chauvin has pleaded not guilty to murder and manslaughter charges, arguing that he was following the training he received during his 19 years on the force.

Benjamin Crump, a civil rights attorney representing the families of Floyd and Daunte Wright, a 20-year-old shot to death in Brooklyn Center, a suburb of Minneapolis, by a white police officer during a traffic stop on 11 April, as the Chauvin trial played out, said guilty verdict for Chauvin could set a precedent in the US.

Maxine Waters, one of the most influential Black members of Congress, joined protesters in Brooklyn Center shortly before a curfew on Saturday night, and spoke to them about the need to see accountability for Chauvin.

Minneapolis is braced for potential citywide protests if Chauvin is acquitted or convicted on one of the lesser charges, with buildings across town boarded up, and National Guard troops already in place across the city.

The outcome in the case is expected to resonate nationwide, particularly in cities that have seen continuing demonstrations over police violence.

In Chicago, at least 1,000 people demonstrated in Logan Square on Friday night, in the wake of the public release of a video showing the police killing of 13-year-old Adam Toledo.

Activist groups in Chicago there said that multiple young people at the protest were arrested and at least one 17-year-old seriously assaulted by police. Two young people were arrested, including the 20-year-old son of a Black Lives Matter Chicago organizer, according to the Chicago Tribune.

Chauvin chose not to testify at his trial, which featured 10 days of evidence by the prosecution against him, including hours of meticulous testimony by Dr. Martin Tobin, and only two days of witnesses called by Chauvin’s defense.