Friends of George Floyd, the man killed by on Monday after an encounter with the Minneapolis Police Department, held a news conference earlier on Friday in the rotunda of Minneapolis City Hall.
CBS Minnesota reported that the speakers included former NBA player Stephen Jackson, a childhood friend of the victim. Actor Jamie Foxx and Leslie Redmond, president of Minneapolis chapter of the NAACP.
“I’m here because they’re not gonna demean the character of George Floyd, my twin,” Jackson said. “You can’t tell me, when that man had his knee on my brother’s neck, taking his life away, with his hand in his pocket, that that smirk on his face didn’t say, ‘I’m protected.’”
Floyd’s death has touched off days of protests and three nights of violence throughout Minneapolis, and inspired demonstrations nationwide.
Protesters camadere a small bulldozer after violence breaks out at Oakland demonstration in support of #GeorgeFloyd #breakingnews #protest #oakland @mercnews pic.twitter.com/egzDx7GreO
— Anda Chu (@anda_chu) May 30, 2020
Minneapolis will be under a mandatory curfew this weekend.
Leslie Redmond, president of Minneapolis NAACP, said that “What you’re witnessing in Minnesota is something that’s been a long time coming. I can’t tell you how many governors I’ve sat down with, how many mayors we’ve sat down with. And we’ve warned them that if you keep murdering black people, the city will burn. We have stopped the city from burning numerous times, and we are not responsible for it burning now.”
#BREAKING: Louis V just looted by rioters in #Portland!#GeorgeFloyd #JusticeForGeorgeFlyod #georgesfloyd #GeorgeFlyod #LA #GeorgeFloydprotest #AtlantaProtest #Minneapolis #minneapolisriots #BlackLivesMatters #NewYork #Atlanta #AtlantaRiot #JusticeForGeorge #LosAngeles #Dallas pic.twitter.com/eMEfPLKYoS
— Faruk Firat (@FarukFirat1987) May 30, 2020
National Guard troops rolling heavy through the streets of DC to break up the #GeorgeFloyd White House protest: pic.twitter.com/jzCwZhcyzA
— MK-Ultra News (@mkultranews) May 30, 2020
Chicago Protesters Storm Trump Tower!
They’re trying to burn ??it down!#chicagoprotest #AtlantaRiot #dcprotest #GeorgeFloyd #minneapolis
— Joe Gomez (@JoeGomezNews) May 30, 2020
Fires are being set in the street in #DTLA, where it has yet to reach midnight, despite the LAPD having declared an unlawful assembly. #GeorgeFloyd pic.twitter.com/u5g81GYtfh
— Shahab (@SSMoghadam) May 30, 2020
Someone is driving small bulldozer in the area of Broadway and 17th Street in Oakland. #GeorgeFloyd #GeorgeFloydprotest pic.twitter.com/on7vitkD1J
— East Bay Times (@EastBayTimes) May 30, 2020
The Oakland #GeorgeFloyd protest sticks it to the Wells Fargo, where the doors are smashed and the premises entered. pic.twitter.com/IsbJYD2Yfx
— Sarah Belle Lin (@SarahBelleLin) May 30, 2020
Video from tonight's Downtown Oakland #GeorgeFloyd protest of OPD declaring an unlawful assembly after the tear gas already started to fly down Broadway. pic.twitter.com/sUTPoOIgqv
— Paul Foryt (@pauly4it) May 30, 2020
Protesters in Seattle lying in the street, calling out the name of GEORGE FLOYD#SeattleProtest
— Md. Sabbir Ahamed (@SabbirAhamedJ) May 30, 2020