George Floyd’s family was joined by hundreds of mourners at a memorial service for the man whose death in Minneapolis sparked an outpouring of anger about racial injustice and protests around the world.
“Everyone wants justice, we want justice for George, he’s going to get it,” Philonise Floyd, one of his brothers, told those gathered at the city’s North Central University.
“It’s crazy man, all these people came to see my brother, it’s amazing he touched so many hearts.”
Mr Floyd’s death in May has become the latest source of fury over police brutality against black people in the US, pushing race to the top of the political agenda five months before November’s presidential election.
Derek Chauvin was fired by the Minneapolis police force and charged with second-degree murder after being filmed in a widely-circulated video kneeling on the 46-year-old’s neck for nearly nine minutes as Floyd gasped for air and repeatedly said: “Please, I can’t breathe.”
Ben Crump, a lawyer for Mr Floyd’s family, revealed at the memorial service that Mr Floyd had recovered from coronavirus after testing positive in April.
“It was that other pandemic that we’re far too familiar with in America, that pandemic of racism and discrimination that killed George Floyd,” he said.
“It’s going to take a united effort inside the courtroom and outside the courtroom to get justice for George Floyd.”
