Protesters chanting "Black Lives Matter" and "George Floyd" converged on the United States capital on Saturday thronging the streets from the Capitol building to a barricaded White House and Lincoln Memorial, to protest the killing of a Black man in police custody, on the 12th day of nationwide protests.
Military vehicles and officers in fatigues had closed off much of downtown Washington, DC to traffic, as protesters stirred by the death of George Floyd - who died on May 25 after a white police officer in Minneapolis knelt on his neck for nearly nine minutes - flooded the streets chanting and carrying signs including "Get your knee off our necks".The demonstrators appeared to come from varied racial and ethnic backgrounds, young and old, wearing mandatory masks because of the coronavirus pandemic. Many had children in tow.
Floyd's killing "caused us to rise up and realise we have to do something, we have to say something", protester Alexis Daniel told Al Jazeera.
"Our system is unjust, social injustice still exists today. Our Blacks are being killed, our Blacks are still facing inequality."
The signs held aloft by protesters echoed that.
"Justice, value, treatment, equality should not vary by skin color," one read, another: "How many weren't filmed?", implying Floyd's death might have gone unnoticed if not for the videos detailing the last moments of his life.
Some of Floyd's final words were "Please, I can't breathe", and "They're going to kill me."
Meaningful change
The size of the crowds in the capital on Saturday indicated the momentum of demonstrations calling for meaningful change to end racism and police brutality in the US has not dimmed.
"I am here to fight for my seven-year-old daughter," Marie Kelly told Al Jazeera.
"The US claims they are this big democracy and everyone has rights, they go to other countries to liberate, prove it here."
The rally followed a week of largely peaceful protests in Washington that at times grew violent, with shops and offices hit by nighttime vandalism and looting, prompting the city's mayor to impose curfews. The curfews were lifted on Thursday.
The White House has been fortified with new fencing and extra security precautions. Most businesses in the downtown area have their windows boarded shut.The protest comes amid a standoff between Washington, DC's mayor, Muriel Bowser, and President Donald Trump.
Before the rally, Bowser on Friday, ordered an enormous "Black Lives Matter" mural painted in large block yellow letters on the street leading to the White House, spanning two blocks.
She renamed the section of the street directly in front of the presidential residence "Black Lives Matter Plaza."
Trump has advocated for a militarised response to the civil unrest and summoned a contingent of active-duty troops from other states to the city. As the rally was on going the president tweeted a phrase he has been repeating, "Law and Order".
"This is a rallying point to get his base going," said Al Jazeera's Shihab Rattansi, at the demonstration.
The Black Lives Matter organisation has objected to the militarisation of the police, driven by military equipment sent to police forces by the US Department of Defense, he said.
"If you stop spending billions of dollars on militarising the police, perhaps you'll get a different attitude, but also you can put all that money into communities," Rattansi said.
Last week, when Trump threatened protesters who come near the White House with "vicious dogs" and "ominous weapons", Mayor Bowser responded forcefully.
"There are no vicious dogs & ominous weapons. There is just a scared man. Afraid/alone. ... I call upon our city and our nation to exercise great restraint even while this President continues to try to divide us," Bowser wrote on Twitter.
Wearing masks and urging fundamental change, protesters gathered in dozens of places from coast to coast while mourners in North Carolina waited for hours to glimpse the golden coffin carrying the body of native son George Floyd, the black man whose death at the hands of Minneapolis police has galvanised the expanding movement.
Collectively, it was perhaps the largest one-day mobilisation since Floyd died on May 25 and came as many cities lifted curfews imposed following initial spasms of arson, assaults and smash-and-grab raids on businesses. Authorities have softened restrictions as the number of arrests plummeted.
Demonstrations also reached four other continents, ending in clashes in London and Marseille, France. In the US, Seattle police used flash bang devices and pepper spray to disperse protesters hurling rocks, bottles and what authorities said were “improvised explosives” that had injured officers, just a day after city leaders temporarily banned one kind of tear gas.The largest US demonstration appeared to be in Washington, where protesters flooded streets closed to traffic. On a hot, humid day, they gathered at the Capitol, on the National Mall and in neighborhoods. Some turned intersections into dance floors. Tents offered snacks and water.
Pamela Reynolds said she came seeking greater police accountability.
“The laws are protecting them,” said the 37-year-old African American teacher. The changes she wants include a federal ban on police chokeholds and a requirement that officers wear body cameras.
At the White House, which was fortified with new fencing and extra security measures, chants and cheers were heard in waves. President Donald Trump, who has urged authorities to crack down on unrest, downplayed the demonstration, tweeting: “Much smaller crowd in DC than anticipated.”
Elsewhere, the backdrops included some of the nation’s most famous landmarks. Peaceful marchers mingled with motorists as they crossed the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco. Cars had been cleared from the Brooklyn Bridge as protesters streamed into Manhattan on a day that New York police relaxed enforcement of a curfew that has led to confrontations. They walked the boulevards of Hollywood and a Nashville, Tennessee, street famous for country music-themed bars and restaurants.
Many protesters wore masks — a reminder of the danger that the protests could exacerbate the spread of the coronavirus.
Roderick Sweeney, who is black, said the large turnout of white protesters waving signs that said “Black Lives Matter” in San Francisco sent a powerful message.
“We’ve had discussions in our family and among friends that nothing is going to change until our white brothers and sisters voice their opinion,” said Sweeney, 49.
A large crowd of Seattle medical workers, many in lab coats and scrubs, marched to City Hall, holding signs reading, “Police violence and racism are a public health emergency” and “Nurses kneel with you, not on you” — a reference to how a white officer pressed his knee on Floyd’s neck for several minutes.
Atop a parking garage in downtown Atlanta, a group of black college band alumni serenaded protesters with a tuba-heavy mix of tunes. Standing within earshot, business owner Leah Aforkor Quaye said it was her first time hitting the streets.
“This makes people so uncomfortable, but the only way things are happening is if we make people uncomfortable,” said Quaye, who is black.
In Raeford, North Carolina, a town near Floyd’s birthplace, people lined up outside a Free Will Baptist church, waiting to enter in small groups. At a private memorial service, mourners sang along with a choir. A large photo of Floyd and a portrait of him adorned with an angel’s wings and halo were displayed at the front of the chapel.
“It could have been me. It could have been my brother, my father, any of my friends who are black,” said Erik Carlos of nearby Fayetteville. “It made me feel very vulnerable at first.”
Floyd’s body will go to Houston, where he lived before Minneapolis, for another memorial in the coming days.
Protesters and their supporters in public office say they’re determined to turn the outpouring into change, notably overhauling policing policies. Many marchers urged officials to “defund the police”.
Theresa Bland, 68, a retired teacher and real estate agent protesting at the Ohio Statehouse in Columbus, envisioned a broader agenda.
“I’m looking at affordable housing, political justice, prison reform,” she said.
Congressional Democrats are preparing a sweeping package of police reforms, which is expected to include changes to immunity provisions and creating a database of use-of-force incidents. Revamped training requirements are planned, too — among them, a ban on chokeholds.
The prospects of reforms clearing a divided Congress are unclear.
Back in North Carolina, the Rev. Christopher Stackhouse recounted the circumstances of Floyd’s death for the congregation.
“It took 8 minutes and 46 seconds for him to die,” Stackhouse said at the memorial service. “But it took 401 years to put the system in place so nothing would happen.”
Protests worldwide embrace Black Lives Matter movement
Thousands of people took to the streets in European and Asian cities on Saturday, demonstrating in support of the US protests against police brutality.
After a largely peaceful protest in London, a few demonstrators near British Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s residence threw bottles at police, and mounted officers charged push protesters back.
Earlier, more than a thousand protesters had marched past the US Embassy, blocking traffic and holding placards.
Police in the German city of Hamburg used pepper spray on protesters and said they were ready to deploy water cannons. One officer was injured, they added.
Several hundred “hooded and aggressive people” had put officers under pressure in the city centre, police said, tweeting: “Attacks on police officers are unacceptable!”
In Paris, the authorities banned demonstrations planned outside the US Embassy and on the lawns near the Eiffel Tower.
However, several hundred protesters, some holding “Black Lives Matters” signs, gathered on Place de la Concorde, close to the Embassy. Police had installed a long barrier across the square to prevent access to the embassy, which is also close to the Elysee presidential palace.
In Berlin, demonstrators filled the central Alexanderplatz square, while there was also a protest in Warsaw.On Monday, Trump came under fire after baton-swinging federal police fired smoke canisters, flashbang grenades and rubber bullets at a crowd of peaceful protesters to clear the area near the White House so he could pose for a photo-op in front of a church while holding a Bible.
Bowser called the scene "shameful".
Trump, for his part, has denounced Bowser as "incompetent".
"The incompetent Mayor of Washington, D.C., @MayorBowser, who's budget is totally out of control and is constantly coming back to us for 'handouts,' is now fighting with the National Guard," Trump wrote.On the newly named plaza, protesters took selfies in front of the large metal fence that keeps them far from the White House.
A man standing behind a table handed out water, snacks and paper towels to demonstrators. The few police and security officers in sight wore patrol uniforms rather than body armour and helmets, and had a more relaxed posture than in days prior.
The mood across the capital seemed upbeat. The White House said the president had no public events scheduled for Saturday. It was unclear if, behind the new fence, he could hear the crowds filling the city and at one point chanting: "This is what democracy looks like."
