People occupying George Floyd Square issue demands for justice before 38th and Chicago reopens

June 7: Memorial at East 38th Street and Chicago Avenue.

Issue will come to a head in the next two week

Group says protests will expand if demands not met

People are pushing back on the city of Minneapolis’s efforts to reopen the intersection of East 38th Street and Chicago Avenue, the site where police killed George Floyd, a black man, on May 25.

A group called Meet in the Streets has issued a five-page “Justice Resolution” to the city of Minneapolis, Hennepin County, and the state of Minnesota, listing 24 actions that they need to meet before the group will stop occupying “George Floyd Square.”

The demands are substantial — including the recall of Hennepin County Attorney Mike Freeman for “abdicating his responsibility to prosecute white police officers who have murdered Black civilians.”

People gathered Sunday, June 7, at the site of George Floyd’s murder.

It doesn’t appear people occupying George Floyd Square will cede ground anytime soon. The group says it will keep the intersection closed until the four officers charged with George Floyd’s murder have gone to trial.

The standoff will come to a head in the next two weeks. City officials have told a few community leaders and business owners that it intends to remove the barricades blocking the intersection during the week of August 17th, the resolution said.

A spokesperson for the Minneapolis Police Department was not immediately available for comment. This post will be updated if we get a comment.

If Meet in the Street’s demands are not met, the group says it will expand the protests “into the heart of every significant neighborhood that is unbothered by the death of George Floyd.”

The resolution states the city of Minneapolis has policies in place promote racial equity, yet city police “keep using excessive force” that results in black people dying.

Meet in the Street’s demands include:

• Firing Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension Superintendent George Evans and three of his staff.
• Providing accountability and transparency in the cases of Christopher Burns (2002), Courtney Williams (2004), Terrance Franklin (2013), Jamar Clark (2015), Philando Castile (2016), Thurman Blevins Jr. (2018), Travis Jordan (2018), Kobe Dimock-Heisler (2019), Brian J. Quinones (2019), George Floyd (2020), and any others as their families decide to speak up.
• Ending qualified immunity, a legal standard that protects police (and other government officials) “from lawsuits alleging that the official violated a plaintiff’s rights.

The resolution closes with the following:

As the city meets our demands for justice, the barricades can be negotiated for removal. If action is not taken by the City to meet our demands for justice, members of the community that live in the George Floyd Square Zone are prepared to maintain street barricades and take the protest of 38th Street East and Chicago Avenue South into the heart of every significant neighborhood that is unbothered by the death of George Floyd or the spirit of anti-blackness involved in his death and that of many others.