Tue 09 June 2020:
The American Civil Liberties Union said Floyd’s relatives joined some 600 rights groups to demand the top UN human rights body “urgently” convene a special session to look into a rise of police violence and repression of protests in the US.
A spokesman for the Human Rights Council in Geneva confirmed the council office received a letter on Monday from the groups outlining their call for an independent investigation into the recent killings of unarmed Black people in the US as well as one into “violent law enforcement responses to protests”.
The call included relatives of Floyd and family members of three other Black people who were killed by the police – Breonna Taylor, Michael Brown and Philando Castile.
A judge on Monday set $1 million bail for a Minneapolis police officer charged with second-degree murder in George Floyd’s death.
Derek Chauvin, 44, said almost nothing during an 11-minute hearing in which he appeared before Hennepin County Judge Denise Reilly on closed-circuit television from the state’s maximum-security prison in Oak Park Heights. His attorney, Eric Nelson, did not contest the bail – raised from the $500,000 initially set in the case – and didn’t address the substance of the charges, which also include third-degree murder and second-degree manslaughter.
Nelson did not speak with reporters afterward.
Derek Chauvin, 44, said almost nothing during an 11-minute hearing in which his bail was raised from $500,000 to $1 million. https://t.co/XfrIQyQAiM
— WXTX Fox54 (@WXTX54) June 8, 2020
Chauvin’s next appearance was set for June 29 at 1:30 p.m.
Floyd died May 25 after the white police officer pressed his knee into his neck for several minutes even after the handcuffed black man stopped moving and pleading for air. His death set off protests, some violent, in Minneapolis that swiftly spread to cities around the U.S. and the globe. Chauvin and three other officers on the scene were fired the day after Floyd’s death.
Thousands attend service for Floyd
The last chance for the public to say goodbye to George Floyd drew thousands of mourners to a church in Houston where he grew up.
Reflecting the weight of the moment, the service drew the families of black victims in other high-profile killings whose names have become seared in America’s conversation over race – among them Eric Garner, Michael Brown, Ahmaud Arbery and Trayvon Martin.
“It just hurts,” said Philonise Floyd, George Floyd’s brother, sobbing as he ticked off some of their names outside the Fountain of Praise church. “We will get justice. We will get it. We will not let this door close.”
Organisers of the public viewing told Khou TV, a local television station, that 6,362 people attended the service.
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