Minneapolis to rename part of street where George Floyd was killed after him

A stretch of a Minneapolis street that includes the place where George Floyd was killed will soon be named in his honor.

The city will refer to the blocks of Chicago Avenue between 37th and 39th streets as George Perry Floyd Jr Place, the Star Tribune reported.

The city council approved the naming on Friday, and Mayor Jacob Frey’s office said he would probably sign off on it as well.

Floyd, a Black man who was handcuffed, was killed on 25 May when Derek Chauvin, a white police officer, pressed his knee against Floyd’s neck even as Floyd said he could not breathe.

Floyd’s death was captured in widely seen bystander video that set off protests around the world against police brutality and systemic racism, attitudes to which are now at the heart of the presidential election campaign.

The decision to name the street in Minneapolis for Floyd comes as the officers involved in his death stand trial. It also follows moves in other cities to name streets for the protest movement fueled by Floyd’s death.

In Washington DC, by order of Mayor Muriel Bowser, a section of 16th Street North-west near the White House was painted with a mural and renamed Black Lives Matter Plaza. In New York City, Mayor Bill de Blasio helped paint a section of Fifth Avenue outside Trump Tower in similar fashion, a move that has attracted counter-protests and vandalism from supporters of police and the president.

In Minneapolis, months after Floyd’s death, the intersection where he died remains barricaded. It now holds a memorial. A group of demonstrators has occupied the area, saying they will not leave until the city meets their demands, including funding for anti-racism training and a temporary property tax freeze for people within that zone.

The city had announced plans to reopen 38th Street this summer but backed off, avoiding a confrontation. The city continues to work on a long-term plan for the intersection.