Minneapolis Officials Make First Moves to Clear George Floyd Square

MINNEAPOLIS (CN) — Minneapolis city workers cleared out barricades, structures and memorials set up at the site of George Floyd’s death early in the morning on Thursday in the first step towards clearing out what has become known as George Floyd Square. 

The move, aimed at making the square accessible to vehicle traffic, sparked outrage among the activists and community members who tend the intersection of 38th and Chicago, where now-fired police officer Derek Chauvin knelt on Floyd’s neck for nine and a half minutes last year, killing him. The space became a center for mourning, celebration, art and community gatherings quickly after Floyd’s death, and has been blocked off to police and most motor vehicle traffic for over a year. 

Mayor Jacob Frey has called for a “phased reopening” of the square with a permanent monument on the spot where Floyd died. He held a press conference Thursday alongside City Council members Alondra Cano and Andrea Jenkins, whose wards both abut the intersection. 

“38th and Chicago is not and will not go back to where it was prior to May 25, 2020. This intersection will forever be changed, and we need to be investing in that transformation,” Frey said. “Our businesses, our residents, all of us, we’re going to continue welcoming people to this location, but in order to do this…. Moving towards this phased reconnection was a critical step.” 

Jenkins said the move was targeted toward healing.

“I know that there have been a number of opposing viewpoints on what should happen on George Floyd Square,” the councilwoman said. “In my estimation, the majority of people have said we need to begin the healing process. And the healing begins with the reconnection of the intersection of 38th and Chicago to the broader city.” 

Also at the press conference were members of the Agape Movement, a community group that has maintained a presence on the square aimed toward security and conflict resolution. Agape members backed up city workers clearing out gardens, shelters and barricades from the square starting around 4:30 a.m. Thursday. They placed new barricades on the northeast corner of the intersection, keeping the spot where Chauvin held Floyd blocked off from traffic. A large iron fist placed in the center of the intersection remained, but flowers and mementos placed around it were cleared away.

The Minneapolis Star Tribune reported that some of the activists on the square said Agape negotiated behind their backs before the city delivered on a list of 24 demands posted on the square. 

A few of those demands have been met, including an investigation into the case of Myon Burrell, which eventually led to the juvenile lifer's release from prison. Chauvin was tried in Minneapolis and convicted of second- and third-degree murder and second-degree manslaughter for Floyd’s death, partially satisfying another demand. Three other officers involved in Floyd’s deadly arrest are scheduled for trial in March, which would wrap up that demand’s requirements if Judge Peter Cahill maintains earlier denials of change-of-venue requests.

But most of the demands, including for the firing of state and county law enforcement officials, broader police reforms and investment in the square and the neighborhood, have yet to see much progress. 

Agape co-founder Steve Floyd — no relation to George Floyd — said that the group had engaged with the city in an effort to avoid the fates of other autonomous zones that cropped up during last summer’s Black Lives Matter protests. A peaceful resolution, he said, “didn’t happen in Portland, it didn’t happen in Seattle, and it didn’t happen in Ferguson. And we didn’t want to have bulldozers, or whatever was going to happen.” 

That may be a long battle. Some activists committed to rebuilding barricades around the square, calling online for supplies to do so. By Thursday afternoon, the square had been closed off from vehicles again. 

Local elected officials who had previously opposed closing the square have kept relatively mum. City Council President Lisa Bender, who tweeted in January that those efforts were Frey’s call and that she would not sign on to them, kept quiet on the issue on Thursday. Bender is not running for reelection. A candidate seeking to fill her seat, Aisha Chughtai, excoriated Minneapolis Police Chief Medaria Arradondo for the move.

“The Police Chief and his allies coordinated with the most conservative forces in this city to fuel an anti-abolitionist narrative,” she wrote on Twitter, referencing a report that Arradondo had coordinated with PR professionals posing as concerned citizens to oppose efforts to defund the department. “A part of that was manufacturing consent to open up the Square this morning.”

One of Frey’s own 2021 election challengers, Kate Knuth, critiqued the mayor’s approach as a betrayal of community trust.

“The decision to move on reopening George Floyd Square today—without community agreement, consensus, notice, or transparency—is a further injustice in a community calling for transformative change,” she wrote, adding that doing so before a projected heat wave would make the neighborhood more vulnerable to tension and violence. 

Another mayoral candidate, Sheila Nezhad, also criticized the move.

“Imagine waking up to a memorial having been cleared at 4:30am, when just last week hundreds came together for healing on the anniversary?” she tweeted. “Evictions like this feel like a sneaky way to avoid accountability, to literally tow away community-built resources w/o warning.”

Subscribe to Closing Arguments

Sign up for new weekly newsletter Closing Arguments to get the latest about ongoing trials, major litigation and hot cases and rulings in courthouses around the U.S. and the world.

Email *

Submit