Protests over George Floyd’s death at police hands spreading across N.J. – NJ.com
As members of an Essex County human rights group are planning a demonstration Saturday to protest the death of George Floyd in Minneapolis, organizations across New Jersey are holding similar rallies.
The People’s Organization for Progress, which aims to eradicate racism, will protest beginning at 1 p.m. at the Lincoln statue, located at West Market Street and Springfield Avenue, in Newark. Protesters are asked to arrive wearing virus-protective masks and gloves no later than 12:45 p.m.
UPDATE: Floyd brutality protest starts peacefully in Newark, with chants of ‘I can’t breathe’
Floyd, a 46-year-old black man, died Monday after Derek Chauvin, a white Minneapolis police officer, knelt on his neck for several minutes while Floyd was handcuffed. Floyd, who wasn’t armed, later died.
Four police officers who were at the scene have been fired. Chauvin was arrested and charged with third-degree murder.
Among the other protests planned in New Jersey:
- At noon on Saturday, a group will meet at Frieda’s Garden, 323 North 4th Avenue in Highland Park in Middlesex County. A procession will go to Staten Island to the site where Eric Garner died before heading to Garner’s grave in Union County.
- In Trenton on Saturday, a coalition of groups is planning a solidarity march beginning at 1 p.m. on State Street in front of the capitol building.
- Also Saturday in Hudson County, a protest was planned for 3 p.m. in James J. Braddock Park in North Bergen.
- In Bloomfield, the township council and community faith leaders are holding a vigil on Zoom scheduled to begin at 5 p.m. on Saturday.
- Black Lives Matter Morristown plans a protest at 7 p.m. on Saturday. The rally will start as a car procession from Morristown High School and will end with a social-distanced vigil outside Morris Township police headquarters.
- In Englewood, a rally was planned for noon Saturday near the recreation department and will include a march along Lafayette Place, First Street and Englewood Avenue before ending at the police station, according to NorthJersey.com.
- Another protest in Trenton, “Justice for George Floyd,” is planned from 3 p.m. to 6 p.m. on Sunday, according to PlanetPrinceton.com.
- In Burlington County, a vigil is planned for 7 p.m. Sunday on Walnut Street in Bordentown.
- Also Monday, a group calling itself “Asbury Park Justice for George Floyd” is hosting a 5 p.m. rally at 801 Bangs Ave.
SOMA Justice, an equal rights group from South Orange and Maplewood in Essex County, staged a Friday evening “Die-In” at the intersection of South Orange Avenue and SOPAC Way in South Orange to honor victims of racist violence.
Video from the rally showed protesters lying in the street chanting, “The people, united, will never be defeated.”
Protests over Floyd’s death have spread across the United States into early Saturday, spilling into New York City, Atlanta, Detroit, Dallas, Houston, Los Angeles, Portland and Washington, D.C.
Many of the rallies have turned violent, with people setting police vehicles on fire, smashing windows and burning buildings to the ground.
In Minneapolis, thousands of protesters ignored a curfew and vows of a forceful police response to take to the city’s streets for a fourth straight night, and some public officials acknowledged they didn’t have enough manpower to control the large crowds.
Gov. Phil Murphy on Friday tweeted “George Floyd should be alive today – not just as a matter of principle or justice, but as a matter of human dignity.”
“Too many times we’ve gotten a national wake-up call and done nothing,” the governor said. “Justice for George means acknowledging our nation’s centuries-old stain of racism.”
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Anthony G. Attrino may be reached at tattrino@njadvancemedia.com.