Protesters stirred by the death of George Floyd vowed Friday to turn an extraordinary outpouring of grief into a sustained movement as demonstrations shifted to a calmer, but no less determined, focus on addressing racial injustice.

In Minneapolis, where Floyd died in police custody, the city agreed to ban police chokeholds and require officers to intervene any time they see unauthorized force by another officer. The changes are part of a stipulation between the city and state officials who launched a civil rights investigation into Floyd’s death. The City Council is expected to approve the agreement, which will be enforceable in court, later Friday.

By early afternoon, demonstrations resumed for an 11th day around the country with continued momentum as the mood of the protests largely shifted from explosive anger to more peaceful calls for change. Formal and impromptu memorials to Floyd stretched from Minneapolis to North Carolina, where family were gathering Saturday to mourn him, and beyond. Services were planned in Texas for the following week.

DeRay Mckesson, the co-founder of Campaign Zero, explains why the police reforms laid out on the “8 Can’t Wait” website can help reduce police misconduct.

Here are the latest developments in the death of George Floyd:

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Mourners Hold Memorial for Floyd as More Protests Take Shape

Hundreds of mourners are paying respects to George Floyd’s in his North Carolina hometown while the nation’s capital prepares for what is expected to be the city’s largest demonstration against police brutality yet.

Military vehicles and officers in fatigues closed off much of downtown Washington to traffic ahead of the planned march.

It was expected to attract up to 200,000 people outraged by Floyd’s death 12 days ago at the hands of police in Minneapolis.

Large protests also took place across the U.S. and in major cities overseas, including London, Paris, Berlin and Sydney, Australia.

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Prosecutor: 2 Buffalo Police Charged With Assault in Shoving

Prosecutors say two Buffalo police officers have been charged with assault after a video showed them shoving a 75-year-old protester.

Both pleaded not guilty to second-degree assault Saturday. The two officers had been suspended without pay Friday after a TV crew captured the confrontation the night before near the end of protests over the death of George Floyd in Minnesota.

The footage shows a man approaching a line of helmeted officers holding batons as they clear demonstrators. Two officers push the man backward, and he hits his head on the pavement. Blood spills as officers walk past.

The governor praised prosecutors for moving quickly to charge the officers.

Read the full story here.

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Dozens of Buffalo Police Officers Resign in Protest of Colleagues’ Suspension for Shoving 75-Year-Old Protester

Nearly five dozen Buffalo, New York, police officers, specially trained for civil unrest, resigned Friday after two colleagues were suspended after a video surfaced appearing to show them shoving and seriously injuring a 75-year-old protester, officials said.

The members of the Buffalo Police Department’s Emergency Response Team quit after the fallout from Thursday night’s incident, which was caught on tape, according the Police Benevolent Association.

“Fifty-seven resigned in disgust because of the treatment of two of their members, who were simply executing orders,” union president John Evans told NBC affiliate WGRZ.

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NFL Condemns Racism, Admits ‘We Were Wrong’ Not to Listen to NFL Player Protests

National Football League commissioner Roger Goodell admitted the league was “wrong” for failing to listen to players who protested social injustice, he said on Friday in a video. 

In his second statement released since the May 25 death of George Floyd, an unarmed black man in Minnesota, Goodell used the roughly 1:20 recorded message to not only “condemn the systemic oppression of black people” but admit fault for not listening to its players “earlier.”

Get the full story here.

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‘Gaslighting an Entire City’: Critics Call Out Mayor for Downplaying Rough Police Treatment of NYC Protesters

Mayor Bill de Blasio on Friday said he had personally seen “no use of force around peaceful protests” and cast doubt on people who had, belying social media posts and witness accounts of officers moving on demonstrators without provocation and bashing them with batons.

De Blasio made the comment in response to questions at his morning news briefing about teams of officers aggressively breaking up a rally in the Bronx as the city’s 8 p.m. curfew kicked in Thursday, leading to scores of arrests and cries of brutality. He said officers were using “lots of restraint” with protesters.

“What an absolute disgrace. This is just not true,” City Councilman Jimmy Van Bramer tweeted afterward. “You are gaslighting an entire City.”

Protesters marched through the city again Friday by the thousands. The violent flareups that characterized some demonstrations last weekend have almost entirely given way to peaceful affairs. Looting that occurred on Sunday and Monday also appears to have ceased.

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Minneapolis to Ban Police Chokeholds in Wake of Floyd Death

Negotiators for the city of Minneapolis agreed with the state Friday to ban the use of chokeholds by police and to require officers to report and intervene anytime they see an unauthorized use of force by another officer.

The changes are part of a stipulation posted online between the city and the Minnesota Department of Human Rights, which launched a civil rights investigation this week in response to the death of George Floyd. The City Council was expected to approve the agreement Friday.

The agreement would require court approval and would become enforceable in court, unlike the department’s current policies on the use of force and duties to intervene. The agreement would require any officer, regardless of tenure or rank, to immediately radio or phone in from the scene the use of any neck restraint or chokehold to their commander or their commander’s superiors.

Similarly, any officer who sees another officer commit any unauthorized use of force, including any chokehold or neck restraint, must try to intervene verbally and even physically. If they don’t, they’d be subject to discipline as severe as if they themselves had used the prohibited force.

The agreement also would require authorization from the police chief or a designated deputy chief to use crowd control weapons, including chemical agents, rubber bullets, flash-bang grenades, batons, and marking rounds. And it would require more timely decisions on disciplining officers.

Young people have been behind some key victories in the protest movement against police brutality, including that some schools are breaking security contracts with local police, said Tiffany Loftin, director of the NAACP Youth and College Division.

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Republican Utah Lawmaker to Back NAACP Police-Reform Plan

A Republican lawmaker in Utah said Friday he’ll support police reform legislation championed by the NAACP aimed at ending brutality and racial profiling in the wake of George Floyd’s death.

Utah was among the first states to publicly respond to a call from the group’s national headquarters for branches to pursue reform legislation, said Jeanetta Williams, president of NAACP’s tri-state conference area of Idaho-Utah-Nevada. Priorities include the demilitarization of law enforcement, tracking and reporting data, and education and training of all officers.

GOP state Sen. Daniel Thatcher has agreed to pursue three of the items brought forth by the NAACP: limiting use of force, increasing transparency in discipline records and strengthening citizen review boards. Williams said she hopes the state’s racial and ethnic minority legislators will agree to propose others.

“The best way for us to support the NAACP right now is to listen to them, hear them and follow their lead,” Thatcher said.

He successfully sponsored a hate-crimes law in Utah last year, pushing though a bill that had stalled in the GOP-dominated legislature for years.

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Seattle Mayor Bans Police Use of Tear Gas

Seattle’s mayor has banned the police use of tear gas as protests continue over the killing of George Floyd.

Mayor Jenny Durkan said at a news conference Friday that the ban would last for 30 days.

The move came hours after three civilian police watchdog groups urged city leaders to ban the use of tear gas to control demonstrators. The groups said the move would build public trust and should remain in place until the department adopts policies and training for use of the chemical agent.

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California Governor Orders End to ‘Carotid Hold’ Training

California Gov. Gavin Newsom has ordered the state police training program to stop teaching officers how to use a hold that can block the flow of blood to the brain, saying that the hold has no place in the 21st century.

It is Newsom’s first action following two weeks of protests across the country after the death of George Floyd. Since then, some police departments have moved to end the use of carotid holds that stop or slow the flow of blood to the brain. Read more here from NBC Bay Area.

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US Cardinal at Vatican Prays for Floyd, and America’s Future

The highest-ranking American cardinal at the Vatican on Friday deplored the “unjust” killing of George Floyd, saying it laid bare that the Christian principles of the U.S. Constitution aren’t being applied to black people.

Cardinal Kevin Farrell, who heads the Vatican’s laity office, told The Associated Press that the brutality of what happened to Floyd after his arrest in Minneapolis was so unreal it seemed like a movie. Floyd, who was handcuffed, died after a police officer pressed his knee into his neck even after he said he couldn’t breathe.

“We would never think that that could possibly happen,” Farrell said. “They are trained individuals who knew that in that position, that person was not going to survive.”

“Now, what brings a person to that point?” he said. “We all have to ask ourselves: What has brought us to that point?”

Farrell on Friday presided over a prayer service in honor of Floyd and other victims of racism organized by the Sant’Egidio Community, a Rome-based Catholic charity that is close to Pope Francis.

Sitting in the front row at the Santa Maria in Trastevere church in downtown Rome was U.S. Ambassador to the Holy See Callista Gingrich and her husband, Newt, the former U.S. house speaker. They both wore protective masks and sat in chairs spaced apart, as called for by Italy’s anti-virus health measures.

In his remarks, Farrell said the protests that have broken out after Floyd’s death make clear that the civil rights movement of the 1960s failed to resolve all of America’s race problems.

Despite laws, constitutional protections and famous speeches that proclaim equality, “the human heart can always close itself in its egoism and return to being polluted by sin, provoking new injustices, violences and oppressions,” he said.

Farrell, an Irish-born naturalized U.S. citizen and the former bishop of Dallas, prayed for Floyd, Floyd’s family and all victims of injustice, and for peaceful, fraternal coexistence among Americans.

“May they find peace, serenity and comprehension,” he said.

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Virginia City Removes 176-Year-Old Slave Auction Block

A 176-year-old slave auction block has been removed from a Virginia city’s downtown.

The 800-pound (363-kilogram) stone was pulled from the ground at a Fredericksburg street corner early Friday after the removal was delayed for months by lawsuits and the coronavirus pandemic, The Free Lance-Star reported.

The weathered stone was sprayed with graffiti twice and chants of “move the block” erupted this week during local demonstrations over the death of George Floyd in Minneapolis, city officials said in a statement announcing the removal.

A local chapter of the NAACP called for the stone’s removal in 2017, saying it was a relic of “a time of hatred and degradation” that was allowed to be displayed at a main thoroughfare in the city.

In 2019, the City Council voted in favor of its removal and relocation to the Fredericksburg Area Museum, and a judge upheld that decision in February after two businesses near the auction block sued to stop the relocation.

The process was held up after one of the businesses, a commercial building owner, asked the Virginia Supreme Court to bar the removal while her decision was being appealed, the newspaper said.

The museum now plans to display the knee-high stone in an exhibit chronicling the “movement from slavery to accomplishments by the local African American community,” the Free Lance-Star said. The staff also plans to feature the recent protests in the exhibit, according to the museum’s president and CEO.

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BLM Youth Leader Says Breonna Taylor’s Case Requires as Much Urgency as George Floyd’s

The criminal charges filed in the deaths of George Floyd and Ahmaud Arbery are only a first step to justice, says Thandiwe Abdullah, a Black Lives Matter Youth Leader. But the teen says prosecuting the cops who shot Breonna Taylor will show the movement is more than just a fad.

The criminal charges filed in the deaths of George Floyd and Ahmaud Arbery are only a first step to justice, says Thandiwe Abdullah, a Black Lives Matter youth leader. But the teen says prosecuting the cops who shot Breonna Taylor will show the movement is more than just a fad.

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DC Paints ‘Black Lives Matter’ on Street Near White House

The city of Washington, D.C., echoed a call for justice by painting a message on a street that leads to the White House: Black lives matter.

Before dawn Friday, a D.C. Department of Public Works crew closed the street so the painting could begin, NBC Washington reported. The yellow letters stretched from curb to curb of 16th Street NW between H and K streets.

The two blocks are just north of Lafayette Square, where anti-police-brutality and anti-racism protesters have chanted “Black lives matter” for a week, moved by the death of George Floyd.

The “Black lives matter” message is close to where federal forces used munitions and pepper spray on Monday to clear peaceful protesters and make way for President Donald Trump to take a photo outside St. John’s Church, which was damaged by a fire during protests.

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Comparisons Drawn Between Floyd’s Death and Missouri Case

The Missouri NAACP and black lawmakers are seeking a new investigation into the death of a rural jail inmate after a white sheriff placed his knee on the black man’s neck. Tory Sanders, a 28-year-old man from Nashville, Tennessee, died in 2017 at the Mississippi County Jail in Charleston, Missouri. He had several encounters with officers and a mental health counselor determined he was suffering from paranoia. A wrongful death lawsuit says Sheriff Cory Hutcheson jammed his knee against Sanders’ neck for up to three minutes.

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Death of Tacoma Man Who Said ‘I Can’t Breathe’ in Police Custody Ruled a Homicide

The mayor of Tacoma, Washington, called for the city manager to fire four police officers after the death of a black man in custody was ruled a homicide.

Manuel Ellis, 33, died on March 3 after being handcuffed and restrained by officers. He could be heard on police scanner traffic saying “I can’t breathe,” after he was handcuffed, and he died at the scene, according to NBC News affiliate KING in Seattle.

Read more here at NBCNews.com.

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Mobile, Alabama, Removes Confederate Statue Without Warning

The city of Mobile, Alabama removed a Confederate statue early Friday without making any public announcements beforehand.

The bronze figure of Admiral Raphael Semmes had become a flash point for protest in the city. George Talbot, a spokesman for the city, confirmed Friday morning that the statue was removed by the city.

The removal of the 120-year-old figure follows days of protests in Alabama and across the nation over killings by police of African Americans.

Semmes was a Confederate commerce raider, sinking Union-allied ships during the Civil War.

Other Confederate symbols are coming down around the South. The city of Birmingham removed a towering obelisk after another statue was toppled by protesters. Virginia’s governor has decided to remove a huge statue of Gen. Robert E. Lee in Richmond, Virginia, after city authorities said they’ll remove other Confederate monuments from Monument Avenue.

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Twitter Blocks Trump Campaign’s George Floyd Video Tribute

Twitter has blocked a Trump campaign video tribute to George Floyd over a copyright claim, in a move that adds to tensions between the social media platform and the U.S. president, one of its most widely followed users.

The company put a label on a video posted by the @TeamTrump account that said, “This media has been disabled in response to a claim by the copyright owner.” The video was still up on President Donald Trump’s YouTube channel and includes pictures of Floyd, whose death sparked widespread protests, at the start.

“Per our copyright policy, we respond to valid copyright complaints sent to us by a copyright owner or their authorized representatives,” Twitter said in a statement. It did not say who made the complaint.

Read the full story here

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Food Delivery Worker Detained in NYC, Mayor Says It’s ‘Not Acceptable’

Calls for an end to New York City’s curfew are being renewed after a food delivery worker, who is exempt from the curfew, was detained by NYPD Thursday night.

The worker was cuffed by cops near Central Park West and 109th Street, according to NBC New York. In a video on Twitter, he can be heard saying, “Are you serious? I’m not even doing anything,” and asked the officers to look at his delivery app on his phone.

This delivery guy thought he’s an essential worker, police seemed to disagree. The rules issued before the curfew very unclear but according to the state, restaurants, bar & food industry workers are classified as essential. #nycurfew #NYCPolice pic.twitter.com/OyZVuDkPuM

— Kirsti Karttunen (@KirstiKarttunen) June 5, 2020

Mayor Bill de Blasio said of the incident, “This is NOT acceptable and must stop.”

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California Mayor Resigns Over Racist Comments

The mayor of Temecula, California, has resigned after sending an email that read “I don’t believe there’s ever been a good person of color killed by a police officer” — something he blamed on a speech-to-text program he uses because he has dyslexia, NBC News reported.

Mayor James “Stew” Stewart had previously apologized and said in a statement Wednesday “I absolutely did not say ‘good’ I have no idea how that popped up.” He said he intended to say he did not think there had ever been a person of color murdered by a police officer locally.

Thursday night in a Facebook post, Stewart said in part: “My typos and off-the-cuff response to an email on a serious topic added pain at a time where our community, and our country, is suffering.”

“I may not be the best writer and I sometimes misspeak, but I am not racist,” Stewart said. “I deeply regret this mistake and I own it, entirely. I am truly sorry.”

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Players Send Video Message to NFL About Racial Inequality

Patrick Mahomes, Saquon Barkley and Michael Thomas are among more than a dozen NFL stars who united to send a passionate video message to the league about racial inequality.

The 70-second video was released on social media platforms Thursday night and includes Odell Beckham Jr., Deshaun Watson, Ezekiel Elliott, Jamal Adams, Stephon Gilmore and DeAndre Hopkins, among others.

Thomas, the New Orleans Saints wide receiver who has led the league in receptions the past two seasons, opens the video with the statement: “It’s been 10 days since George Floyd was brutally murdered.” The players then take turns asking the question, “What if I was George Floyd?”

Read the full story here

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2 National Guard Soldiers Hospitalized After DC Lightning Strike

Two people thought to be National Guard members deployed during protests in Washington, D.C. were hospitalized after lightning struck the area of their post not far from the White House early Friday, a fire official said.

The strike and possible injuries were reported shortly after midnight inside a perimeter anchored by Lafayette Square, the site of George Floyd demonstrations this week, according to Vito Maggiolo, spokesman for the district’s fire and emergency medical services department.

The two were hospitalized in non-life-threatening condition, NBC News reported.

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Another Night of Largely Peaceful Protests Sweeps the Nation

Protests across the nation remained largely peaceful throughout the day Thursday and into Thursday night.

Boston, Massachusetts, and its suburbs saw thousands of people marching in the streets and holding silent vigils for Floyd. In New York City, thousands of protesters gathered in Brooklyn and marched to Manhattan, filling Union and Washington Square. In Dallas, protesters headed to the Dallas Police Association to peacefully demand police accountability and change.

In the nation’s capital, protests continued past nightfall. Heavy rain and thunderstorms began about 8 p.m. but large crowds remained, NBC Washington reported.

Meanwhile, on the West Coast, several California towns canceled curfews after days of peaceful protests. In Los Angeles, LAPD Chief Michel Moore took a knee alongside protesters outside of City Hall. San Diego and the San Francisco Bay Area saw protests of a similar nature, with thousands in attendance.

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ACLU Files Lawsuit Against Trump Administration

The American Civil Liberties Union and others have filed a lawsuit against the Trump administration, alleging officials violated the civil rights of protesters who were forcefully removed from a park near the White House by police using chemical agents before President Donald Trump walked to a nearby church to take a photo.

The lawsuit was filed Thursday in federal court in Washington. It argues that Trump, Attorney General William Barr and other officials “unlawfully conspired to violate” the protesters’ rights when clearing Lafayette Park on Monday.

Shortly before 6:30 p.m. ET on Monday, law enforcement officers began aggressively forcing back the peaceful protesters, firing smoke bombs and pepper balls into the crowd to disperse them from the park.

The ACLU called it a “coordinated and unprovoked charge into the crowd of demonstrators.”

Barr said Thursday that he ordered the protesters to be dispersed because officials were supposed to extend a security perimeter around the White House earlier in the day. He said he arrived there later in the afternoon and discovered it hadn’t been done.

The lawsuit was filed on behalf of the group Black Lives Matter D.C., and individual protesters who were in Lafayette Park on Monday evening.

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Once the coronavirus pandemic suspended the NBA season, George Hill escaped to a place where he had space to social distance — 850 acres, to be exact.

The Milwaukee Bucks point guard flew to stay at the Hill Country ranch he purchased in 2017, according to a recent ESPN profile. The sprawling property, a 35-minute drive north of Hill’s offseason home in San Antonio, is home to a number of exotic animals.

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Hill keeps kangaroos, six zebras, wildebeests, donkeys, elk, and antelope, among others.

“I just think it’s cool for my kids to see,” Hill told ESPN. “And for them to have something different. Everyone has a dog or a cat … I just choose other animals.”

When Hill bought the ranch, the realtor told mySA that he “knew it was the one he had been dreaming about.”

“One thing many people do not know about George is that he loves the outdoors,” the realtor said. “He loves paintballing, hunting and fun, outdoor toys, so he will definitely be using the land for recreation and hunting.”

The Spurs drafted Hill with the 26th overall pick in 2008. (He was traded to the Indiana Pacers in 2011 in exchange for the rights to Kawhi Leonard and Davis Bertans.) As a rookie, he learned to hunt with season-ticket holders Will and Gloria Drash.

Hill has since become an avid hunter, but he said the animals on his ranch are not for hunting. Four employees are charged with taking care of the animals.

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“The only thing I hunt on my land is wild hogs and coyotes, because they cause so many problems,” he said.

The article notes that owning exotic animals is legal in Texas. Hill purchased his from licensed specialty breeders in the state. The most expensive animals on his ranch are the female sable antelope and kudu, which cost $20,000 to $25,000 apiece.

“If this is what retirement looks like,” Hill said. “This is better than I thought.”

Mark Dunphy is a breaking news and general assignment reporter for MySA.com | mark.dunphy@express-news.net |@m_b_dunphy