George Floyd Square occupied protest
As a reaction to the murder of George Floyd on May 25, 2020, racial justice activists and some residents of the Powderhorn community in Minneapolis staged an occupation protest at the intersection of East 38th Street and Chicago Avenue with a blockade of the streetway lasting over a year. The intersection is where Derek Chauvin, a white police officer with the Minneapolis Police Department, murdered George Floyd, an unarmed 46-year-old Black man. Activists erected barricades to block vehicular traffic and transformed the intersection and surrounding structures with amenities, social services, and public art depicting Floyd and other racial justice themes. The community called the unofficial memorial and protest zone at the intersection "George Floyd Square". The controversial street occupation in 2020 and 2021 was described as an "autonomous zone" and a "no-go" place for police, but local officials disputed the extent of such characterizations.
Local unrest in Minneapolis–Saint Paul immediately after Floyd's murder was the second-most destructive to property in U.S. history, after the 1992 Los Angeles riots, but peaceful protest gatherings at the intersection in late May 2020 were free of the property destruction, arson, and looting that characterized other local demonstrations. The intersection became a place of pilgrimage for people protesting Floyd's murder and other forms of racial injustice. But in the weeks and months after Floyd's murder, the neighborhood surrounding the square, which had previously had a reputation for gang activity, continued to have elevated levels of violent crime and regular gunfire incidents. By August 14, 2022, seven people had been killed by gun violence at or around the square since Floyd's murder, and one person had died there as the result of a drug overdose.
The City of Minneapolis began long-term planning in late 2020 for preservation of public art installments at the square. By March 2021, debate about how to open the intersection persisted as the trial of Derek Chauvin commenced, with some residents expressing support for removing the barricades and others preferring that the occupation continue until community demands were met. After a guilty verdict was reached in the trial on April 20, 2021, organizers of the occupation of the intersection said they would continue to protest and hold the square until their demands were met, which included awaiting the trial outcome for the other three police officers at the scene of Floyd's murder. City crews removed cement barricades at the intersection on June 3, 2021, as part of a phased reopening process and vehicular traffic partially resumed on June 20.
The activist movement at George Floyd Square persisted into 2024 as the area continued to function as a gathering place for protest.
Background
38th and Chicago
38th Street in Minneapolis has been the center of a Black business corridor and a destination for Black residents and visitors since the 1930s. East 38th Street, an east–west corridor, intersects Chicago Avenue, a north–south corridor, in the city's Powderhorn community.Murder of George Floyd
At about 8 p.m. on May 25, 2020, George Floyd, a 46-year-old Black man, was murdered by Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin while being arrested outside the Cup Foods store at the intersection of East 38th Street and Chicago Avenue in the Powderhorn Park neighborhood. Chauvin knelt on Floyd's neck for approximately nine minutes after he was already handcuffed and lying face down and pleading for help. Two other police officers, J. Alexander Kueng and Thomas Lane, assisted Chauvin in restraining Floyd, while another, Tou Thao, prevented bystanders from interfering with Floyd's arrest. Bystanders confronted the officers over Floyd's repeated statement "I can't breathe" and deteriorating condition, but he appeared unconscious at the scene and was transported to Hennepin County Medical Center by ambulance. He was pronounced dead at 9:25 p.m. Two autopsy reports found Floyd's death to be a homicide.Protest movement
Floyd's murder and local unrest in Minneapolis–Saint Paul resulted in worldwide protests against police brutality, police racism, and lack of police accountability.Timeline
2020
Protests at 38th and Chicago
On May 26, 2020, the day after Floyd's murder, several videos by witnesses and security camera footage of the incident circulated widely in the media, drawing public scrutiny. A makeshift memorial emerged at East 38th Street and Chicago Avenue and people gathered for the first organized protests. Some protesters chanted, "I can't breathe, I can't breathe", words repeated by Floyd in videos of his murder. Thousands of people flooded the intersection that day. By May 27, a group of protesters had blocked the intersection with a makeshift barrier as some repeated, "Whose streets? Our streets." People left memorials by Cup Foods and spray-painted the words "Justice for Floyd" and "Black Lives Matter" on the street surface. No police were present at the time and the protests there were described as peaceful.Installation of barricades and public art
People who lived near the intersection put up makeshift barricades in response to police cars that were driving through the memorial site late at night. On June 2, the Minneapolis Public Works Department installed 12 concrete barricades at the various entrances to the square to ensure pedestrian safety as the intersection was host to many protest rallies. The city said the barricades made the square safer to gather in by preventing through-traffic and allowing emergency service access. Many visitors to the intersection left behind flowers by the murals and sculptures activists created to symbolize the Black Lives Matter movement. By mid-June, thousands of visitors had protested and grieved at the site, which was described as like a "shrine". On June 13, in a statement on Twitter, the Minneapolis police said they would "not be altering or decommissioning the memorial of George Floyd. We respect the memory of him and will not disrupt the meaningful artifacts that honor the importance of his life."Fatal shooting of Dameon Chambers
On June 19, Dameon Chambers was fatally shot at the square during a Juneteenth holiday gathering, which became a source of argument about the autonomous zone. A city document reported that emergency service workers were initially unable to reach Chambers to render aid and had to move him to an area where an ambulance could reach him. Activists at the square said the police delayed emergency workers.Fatal shooting of Leneesha Columbus and her child
On July 5, police responded to reports of a shooting at the square. They initially asked whether community members could move a shooting victim out of the immediate area to a staging location they set up several blocks away, but were told that was not an option, so they responded at the scene and were aided by community members. Police found a vehicle that had been struck by gunfire a block away at East 37th Street and Elliot Avenue and bystanders who were rendering aid to a shooting victim. The victim, identified as Leneesha Columbus, a pregnant 27-year-old woman, died of gunshot wounds. The child she was carrying was delivered at a nearby hospital on July 5, about three months prematurely, and died on August 5. The baby's death was classified as a homicide. After the shooting, a volunteer peacekeeper at the square confronted the man who shot Columbus, and was shot in the foot by him. The Hennepin County Attorney's office later charged a 27-year-old man, believed to be the baby's father, with second-degree murder and other felonies in connection to the shootings on July 5. He was arrested in Illinois.Carjacking and shooting
In mid-July, a Minneapolis man was shot 16 times during a carjacking incident near 37th Street and Elliot Avenue. An anonymous person called 911 to report the shooting, but police were not able to identify any witnesses. The man was left paralyzed. There were no developments in the case by mid-2022.Cup Foods store reopens
On August 3, the reopening of the Cup Foods convenience store, from which an employee's 911 call led to the encounter between Floyd and Minneapolis police, generated controversy. Cup Foods, owned by a Palestinian-American family, had been a fixture in the Powderhorn neighborhood for three decades. The area around it had also been the location of violent crime, illicit drug dealing, loitering, and undercover police surveillance since the 1990s. Floyd's murder led to further scrutiny of the store and its relationship with the Minneapolis police and its off-duty officers who were known to provide paid security services. When it reopened, some protesters demanded that the store remain closed for continued mourning and confronted its owners, who vowed to keep the store open. Among public conversation about how to evolve the intersection into a permanent memorial, some activists circulated petitions to permanently close the store.Protesters present a list of 24 demands
On August 7, members of the community organization Meet on the Streets demanded that the city meet a list of 24 demands before removing cement barricades around the intersection. These included keeping the intersection closed to traffic until after the trials of the four officers involved in Floyd's murder, firing several specific employees from the Bureau of Criminal Apprehension, providing accountability in the cases of several officer involved deaths, investigating Dameon Chambers's death, and providing resources to the community and a handful of nonprofits operating in the community.Official actions by the city
In August, the Minneapolis Planning Commission recommended to the city council that Chicago Avenue between 37th and 39th streets be named "George Perry Floyd Jr Place". Minneapolis city officials allocated $4.7 million to establish a permanent memorial at the site. As part of the Minneapolis 2040 zoning plan, local officials also designated the broader 38th Street South area as one of the city's seven new cultural districts to promote racial equity, preserve cultural identity, and promote economic growth. The officially designated 38th Street Cultural District included the portion of 38th Street South from Nicollet to Bloomington Avenues.Violent crime, reports of drug overdoses by night, and disruption of public transit and business activity by day had city officials looking for ways to create a permanent memorial while also reopening the intersection to vehicular traffic. Conversations among area residents centered on anger about the police, the need to preserve a space for racial justice healing, and fears about safety. The city planned to reopen the intersection in August, but backed off the plans to avoid confrontation with protesters.