Killing of Black man by white police officer leads to minor changes in U.S. city: report
NEW YORK, May 26 (Xinhua) -- Some things have changed for the better in Minneapolis, Minnesota, since Memorial Day 2020, when a white police officer murdered George Floyd; some have not, reported The Associated Press on Monday.
Sunday marked five years since Officer Derek Chauvin used his knee to pin the Black man's neck to the pavement for 9.5 minutes, leading to his death.
A tidal wave of racial justice protests erupted in U.S. cities. Demonstrators chanted Floyd's dying words: "I can't breathe." The protests were mostly peaceful at first but some turned violent, and parts of Minneapolis have yet to recover from the rioting, looting and arson. And the city is still struggling to decide what should become of the intersection where Floyd was killed.
"The Minneapolis Police Department has faced some changes under court supervision that aim to reduce racial disparities," noted the report. "Violent crime, which spiked during the COVID-19 pandemic and after Floyd's death, is mostly back around pre-pandemic levels, although homicides are inching up."
The intersection where a crowd of concerned onlookers urged Chauvin and other officers to heed Floyd's dying cries quickly became known as George Floyd Square.
Meanwhile, a majority of City Council members support building a pedestrian-only mall where Floyd drew his final breaths, but Mayor Jacob Frey and many property and business owners oppose the idea of closing the area to all vehicles. Any final decisions remain a long way off.
"The slogan 'Defund the Police' caught fire after Floyd's death, but it never came to pass," added the report. "While a majority of council members initially backed the idea, what appeared on the city ballot in 2021 was a more modest attempt to reimagine policing. Voters rejected it."
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