Minneapolis, May 26 (RHC)-- In the U.S. city of Minneapolis, community members gathered Thursday for a vigil at the intersection where George Floyd was murdered three years ago by police officers.   A daylong festival and concert are planned for Saturday. 

Other cities around the country also held memorials and protests against police killings of Black men and women.

In related news, The Guardian reports U.S. cities will pay at least $80 million to racial justice protesters who were violently attacked by police in various incidents during the Black Lives Matter uprising following Floyd’s killing in 2020.  That number, already record-breaking, is expected to go up as pending lawsuits are resolved.

And in New York City, protesters, activists and dozens of groups are calling on the City Council to disband the NYPD’s Strategic Response Group, which has engaged in brutal attacks on demonstrators. 

Scores of New Yorkers testified this week, including organizer Isabelle Leyva.  She told the City Council:  “During the more than 200 protests that I have documented at since 2020 myself with my two eyes, I have seen the SRG use barricades to break limbs.  I have seen the SRG kettle protesters and pummel trapped people with batons and fists.  I have seen the SRG hold a Taser to the head of an unhoused man while clearing Washington Square Park after curfew.  I have seen the SRG use their bicycles like baseball bats, swinging them at people’s heads.  I have seen the SRG stand on top of cars and swing their batons at the crowd below.  I have seen the SRG pile on top of protesters as they scream: 'I can't breathe.’”