Silence, then cheers: Relief washes over George Floyd Square

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In the place now known as George Floyd Square, a spot that millions around the world have seen in videos shot by bystanders during George Floyd's arrest, there was relief as former officer Derek Chauvin was found guilty Tuesday.

MINNEAPOLIS -- There was quiet, just for a moment, as hundreds of people standing in the intersection at 38th Street and Chicago Avenue crowded in to listen to the news.Then thunderous cheering filled the place where George Floyd was pinned beneath a police officer's knee nearly a year ago, begging for air. Many people wept. Some sobbed.

Venisha Johnson jumped for joy when she heard the verdicts. Minutes later she could barely speak, she was weeping so hard. Some 300 people gathered in the intersection, home to Cup Foods, the corner convenience store where employees had called police on the evening of May 25, saying Floyd had paid for cigarettes with a counterfeit $20 bill. It was Memorial Day.

By early evening, the square was a scene of celebration, prayer and community relief. More and more people streamed in. Someone played a tuba. There were occasional chants of "Say his name! George Floyd!" People danced to Tye Tribbet's "We Gon' Be Alright" and sang along to Notorious B.I.G.'s "Juicy," throwing their arms around each other and raising their hands in the air.

Criminal convictions of police officers are exceedingly rare. There have been thousands of police shootings in the U.S. since 2005, but fewer than 140 officers have been charged with murder or manslaughter, according to criminologist Phil Stinson. Before Tuesday, only seven were convicted of murder. It remains unclear what will happen to the square, which sprang up organically in the days after Floyd's death, when community members put up homemade barricades to close it off. The city later replaced them with concrete barriers. It has been a place of pilgrimage and picnics, with people painting slogans and portraits on walls and the streets, leaving flowers and sometimes just hanging out and grilling hot dogs.

 

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