“I thank God for all of you showing my brother so much love,” said Terrence Floyd, who lives in Brooklyn, New York, at the event on Thursday. Hundreds of people had come to a square in Brooklyn for the memorial service, after which they moved on towards Manhattan with posters and chants.
“I’m proud of the protests, but I’m not proud of the destruction,” said Floyd. The demonstrations in New York had been largely peaceful in the past few days, but there had also been isolated cases of violence and looting.
Mayor Bill de Blasio also spoke at the memorial event. George Floyd must not have died in vain, said de Blasio. “We have to make peaceful changes.”
The mayor was booed by the demonstrators. Many accuse him of being on the side of the police and of not taking sufficient action against police brutality in New York.
Floyd died last week in a brutal arrest in the city of Minneapolis, Minnesota. Since then, there have been demonstrations and protests against racism and police brutality across the country.
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