The city of Minneapolis tried Thursday to reopen to traffic the intersection where the African-American George Floyd died, which has become a place of memory, but also a lawless zone regularly marred by violence.
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Arrived before dawn, municipal employees of the northern metropolis of the United States removed concrete blocks that blocked the accesses to the crossroads where the black forty-something died under the knee of a white police officer, May 25, 2020 , noted an AFP photographer.
They also installed traffic signs to create a roundabout around a statue of a huge raised fist, erected in the center of what has been renamed “George Floyd Square”.
An association of residents was helping to defuse tensions with anti-racist activists who, for more than a year, have occupied the premises and tried Thursday to prevent their reopening.
The latter condition the evacuation of the crossroads to the adoption of police reforms, under the slogan “no justice, no street”.
Symbol of the tensions that cross America, the site has become a place of contemplation and debate, with numerous murals, a community garden and other facilities.
But it is also a lawless area where the police are not welcome. Gunshots are frequent there, especially at night, and have left a dozen dead or injured in the area in a year, according to the police.
Police are not associated with the clean-up operation, spokesperson John Elder told AFP.
The city “is very careful to preserve artistic works and objects” deposited in memory of George Floyd, for its part underlined a representative of the town hall Sarah McKenzie.
Authorities have always wanted to reopen the crossroads, but waited for the end of the trial of white policeman Derek Chauvin, who in April was convicted of the murder of George Floyd.
To help the neighborhood bounce back, the Floyd family has planned to finance up to half a million dollars from local economic actors or associations, out of the 27 million dollars in damages that the town hall has committed to it. pay.
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