WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Tens of thousands of demonstrators marched in Washington and other U.S. cities on Saturday to demand an end to racism and brutality by U.S. law enforcement as protests over the killing of a black man by Minneapolis police entered a 12th day.
The protest in the nation’s capital was shaping up as the largest of the marches seen this week in cities and smaller towns nationwide, as well as in countries around the world. It coincided with a second memorial service for George Floyd, 46, who died on May 25 after a Minneapolis policeman knelt on his neck for nearly nine minutes.
His killing, recorded in excruciating detail on a bystander’s cellphone, has led to a wave of protests and national soul-searching over the country’s legacy of violence and mistreatment of African Americans and other minorities.
Near the front of the White House, Katrina Fernandez, 42, said she was both hopeful and impatient in joining the protests to demand what she viewed as long overdue reforms in policing.
“I’m just hoping that we really get some change from what’s going on. People have been kneeling and protesting and begging for a long time and enough is enough,” she said. “We can’t take much more.”
Local media has forecast that tens of thousands would turn out in the U.S. capital, despite the risks still posed by the coronavirus, which ravaged the country over the past two months and still presents a deadly threat, according to health experts. Official estimates of the number of protesters were unavailable.
As in previous days, the protests in cities from Los Angeles and Chicago to New York and Washington involved a series of loosely organized marches.
In the nation’s capital, thousands gathered at the Lincoln Memorial and