George Floyd protests
The George Floyd protests were a series of protests, riots, and demonstrations against police brutality that began in Minneapolis in the United States on May 26, 2020. The protests and civil unrest began as reactions to the murder of George Floyd, a 46-year-old unarmed African American man, by city police during an arrest. They spread nationally and internationally. Veteran officer Derek Chauvin was recorded as kneeling on Floyd's neck for 9 minutes and 29 seconds; Floyd complained of not being able to breathe, but three other officers looked on and prevented passersby from intervening. Chauvin and the other three officers involved were fired and later arrested. In April 2021, Chauvin was found guilty of second-degree murder, third-degree murder, and second-degree manslaughter. In June 2021, Chauvin was sentenced to years in prison.
The George Floyd protest movement began hours after his murder as bystander video and word of mouth began to spread. Protests first emerged at the East 38th and Chicago Avenue street intersection in Minneapolis, the location of Floyd's arrest and murder, and other sites in the Minneapolis–Saint Paul metropolitan area of Minnesota. Protests quickly spread nationwide and to over 2,000 cities and towns in over 60 countries in support of the Black Lives Matter movement. Polls in the summer of 2020 estimated that between 15 million and 26 million people had participated at some point in the demonstrations in the United States, making the protests the largest in U.S. history.
While the majority of protests were peaceful, demonstrations in some cities escalated into burning of cars, looting, and street skirmishes with police and counter-protesters. Some police responded to protests with instances of violence, including against reporters. At least 200 cities in the U.S. had imposed curfews by early June 2020, while more than 30 states and Washington, D.C. activated over 96,000 National Guard, State Guard, 82nd Airborne, and 3rd Infantry Regiment service members. The deployment, when combined with preexisting deployments related to the COVID-19 pandemic and other natural disasters, constituted the largest military operation other than war in U.S. history. By the end of June 2020, at least 14,000 people had been arrested. By June 2020, more than 19 people had died in relation to the unrest. A report from the Armed Conflict Location and Event Data Project estimated that between May 26 and August 22, 93% of individual protests were "peaceful and nondestructive" and research from the Nonviolent Action Lab and Crowd Counting Consortium estimated that by the end of June, 96.3% of 7,305 demonstrations involved no injuries and no property damage. However, arson, vandalism, and looting that occurred between May 26 and June 8 caused approximately $1–2 billion in insured damages nationally, the highest recorded damage from civil disorder in U.S. history, and surpassing the record set during the 1992 Los Angeles riots.
The protests precipitated a worldwide debate on policing and racial injustice that has led to [|numerous legislative proposals] on federal, state, and municipal levels in the U.S. intended to combat police misconduct, systemic racism, qualified immunity and police brutality. The protests led to a wave of monument removals, name changes, and societal changes throughout the world and occurred during the early part of the COVID-19 pandemic and amid the 2020 U.S. presidential election season. Protests continued through 2020 and into 2021, most notably in Minneapolis at the 38th and Chicago Avenue street intersection where Floyd was murdered that activists have referred to as George Floyd Square. Several demonstrations coincided with the criminal trial of Chauvin in March and April 2021 and the one-year anniversary of Floyd's murder in May 2021. Officials in Minnesota and elsewhere proactively mobilized counter-protest measures for Chauvin's trial, but it did not result in unrest like what happened immediately after Floyd's murder.
Local officials in Minneapolis–Saint Paul prepared counter-protest measures in early 2022 for the start of the federal trial for the other three police officers at the scene of Floyd's murder. Relatively small protests took place during the trial and after the verdict announcement. On May 25, 2021, the one-year anniversary of Floyd's murder, a number of protests took place; most of these were short-lived, with calm being restored on the early hours of May 26, 2021. While the nationwide protests ended, the occupation of George Floyd Square in Minneapolis–Saint Paul persisted into 2024, however as of 2022 vehicular traffic was finally allowed to pass through it. On May 2, 2023, Tou Thao was found guilty of aiding and abetting manslaughter—the last federal or state court case related to Floyd's murder. The conviction fulfilled a key demand of protesters that all four police officers be held legally accountable for murdering George Floyd.
Background
Police brutality protests in the United States
Cases of police misconduct and fatal use of force by law enforcement officers in the U.S., particularly against African Americans, have long led the civil rights movement and other activists to protest against a lack of police accountability in incidents they see as involving excessive force. Many protests during the civil rights movement were in response to the perception of police brutality, including the 1965 Watts riots which resulted in the deaths of 34 people, mostly African Americans. The largest post-civil rights movement protest in the 20th century was the 1992 Los Angeles riots, which were in response to the acquittal of police officers responsible for excessive force against Rodney King, an African American man.The Black Lives Matter movement was originally started in 2013, after Trayvon Martin's killer was found not guilty in court. In 2014, the shooting of Michael Brown by police in Ferguson, Missouri, resulted in local protests and unrest while the killing of Eric Garner in New York City resulted in numerous national protests. In 2015, the death of Freddie Gray in Baltimore police custody resulted in riots in the city and nationwide protests as part of the Black Lives Matter movement. Several nationally publicized incidents occurred in Minnesota, including the 2015 shooting of Jamar Clark in Minneapolis; the 2016 shooting of Philando Castile in Falcon Heights; and the 2017 shooting of Justine Damond. In 2016, Tony Timpa was killed by Dallas police officers in the same way as George Floyd. In August 2019, Elijah McClain died after Aurora police ordered paramedics to administer ketamine under dubious circumstances. In March 2020, the fatal shooting of Breonna Taylor by police executing a search warrant at her Kentucky apartment was also widely publicized. After Eric Garner and George Floyd repeatedly said "I can't breathe" during their arrests, the phrase became a protest slogan against police brutality.
The murder of George Floyd sparked mass protests and calls for police reform in the face of ongoing police violence against African-Americans. Large companies such as Nike and Walmart aimed to express their support for the movement through branding themselves as antiracist. Despite some politicians expressing backlash for the Black Lives Matter protests, politicians such as Republican Senator Mitt Romney participated. The movement sought to express their understanding of police brutality as a result of anti-black sentiment, which is seen as structural in nature.
Murder of George Floyd
According to a police statement, on May 25, 2020, at 8:08p.m. CDT, Minneapolis Police Department officers responded to a 9-1-1 call regarding a "forgery in progress" on Chicago Avenue South in Powderhorn, Minneapolis. MPD Officers Thomas K. Lane and J. Alexander Kueng arrived with their body cameras turned on. A store employee told officers that the man was in a nearby car. Officers approached the car and ordered George Floyd, a 46-year-old African American man, who according to police "appeared to be under the influence", to exit the vehicle, at which point he "physically resisted". According to the MPD, officers "were able to get the suspect into handcuffs, and noted he appeared to be suffering medical distress. Officers called for an ambulance." Once Floyd was handcuffed, officers Kueng and Lane attempted to help Floyd to their squad car, but at 8:14 p.m., Floyd stiffened up and fell to the ground. MPD Officers Derek Chauvin and Tou Thao then arrived and made more failed attempts to get Floyd into the squad car.Floyd, who was still handcuffed, went to the ground face down. Officer Kueng held Floyd's back and Lane held his legs. Chauvin placed his left knee in the area of Floyd's head and neck. A Facebook Live livestream recorded by a bystander showed Officer Derek Chauvin kneeling on Floyd's neck. Floyd repeatedly tells Chauvin "Please" and "I can't breathe", while a bystander is heard telling the police officer, "You got him down. Let him breathe." After some time, a bystander points out that Floyd was bleeding from his nose while another bystander tells the police that Floyd is "not even resisting arrest right now", to which the police tell the bystanders that Floyd was "talking, he's fine". A bystander replies saying Floyd "ain't fine". A bystander then protests that the police were preventing Floyd from breathing, urging them to "get him off the ground... You could have put him in the car by now. He's not resisting arrest or nothing." Floyd then goes silent and motionless. Chauvin does not remove his knee until an ambulance arrives. Emergency medical services put Floyd on a stretcher. Not only had Chauvin knelt on Floyd's neck for about seven minutes but another video showed an additional two officers had also knelt on Floyd while another officer watched.
Although the police report stated that medical services were requested prior to the time Floyd was placed in handcuffs, according to the Minneapolis Star Tribune, Emergency Medical Services arrived at the scene six minutes after getting the call. Medics were unable to detect a pulse, and Floyd was pronounced dead at the hospital. A May 26 autopsy conducted by the Hennepin County Medical Examiner's Office found that there were "no physical findings that support a diagnosis of traumatic asphyxia or strangulation"; the preliminary findings stated that underlying health conditions, the police restraint, and potential intoxicants likely contributed to Floyd's death.
On May 26, Chauvin and the other three officers were fired. Chauvin was charged with third-degree murder and second-degree manslaughter; the former charge was later changed to second-degree murder.
On June 1, a private autopsy commissioned by the family of Floyd found the death to be a homicide and that Floyd had died due to asphyxiation from sustained pressure, which conflicted with the original autopsy report done earlier that week. Shortly after, the official post-mortem declared Floyd's death a homicide. Video footage of Officer Derek Chauvin applying 8 minutes 15 seconds of sustained pressure to Floyd's neck generated global attention and raised questions about the use of force by law enforcement. On June 25, 2021, Chauvin was sentenced to 22 years and 6 months in prison with the possibility of supervised release after serving two-thirds of his sentence or 15 years for second-degree murder.