Police officer Derek Chauvin's use of force against George Floyd was "totally unnecessary," the longest-serving officer in the Minneapolis Police Department has testified.

Lieutenant Richard Zimmerman, testifying for the prosecution on the fifth day of Chauvin's murder and manslaughter trial on Friday, said the sacked 19-year veteran officer had violated department policies on the use of force.

Zimmerman had reviewed bystander video and police bodycam footage of Floyd's May 25, 2020 arrest by Chauvin and three other officers who are also facing charges.

Video shows Chauvin, who is white, kneeling on the neck of a handcuffed Floyd for more than nine minutes following the arrest of the 46-year-old Black man for passing a counterfeit $20 bill in a nearby store.

When asked what he thought about the 45-year-old Chauvin's use of force against Floyd, Zimmerman said: "Totally unnecessary."

"Pulling him down to the ground facedown and putting your knee on a neck for that amount of time, it's just uncalled for," he said.

"I saw no reason why the officers felt they were in danger -- if that's what they felt, and that's what they would have to feel -- to use that kind of force," he said.

Floyd's death sparked protests against racial injustice and police brutality across the United States and around the world.

Prosecutors are seeking to prove that Chauvin's actions led to the death of Floyd, who was lying on his stomach, facedown in the street saying repeatedly: "I can't breathe."

<a href="https://www.wionews.com/world/george-floyds-girlfriend-testifies-at-chauvin-murder-trial-374890">Also read |&nbsp;George Floyd's girlfriend testifies at Chauvin murder trial</a>

Eric Nelson, the former officer's defence attorney, claims Floyd died due to illegal drug use and underlying medical conditions.

Zimmerman, who joined the Minneapolis Police Department in 1985 and currently heads the homicide unit, was asked if he had been trained to "kneel on the neck of someone who is handcuffed behind their back in the prone position?"&nbsp;

"No I haven't," he said.

Once a suspect is handcuffed "that person is yours," he said. "He's your responsibility. His safety is your responsibility."

"Once a person is cuffed, the threat level goes down, all the way," he said. "They're cuffed. How can they really hurt you?"

Zimmerman also said that once a suspect is in handcuffs "you need to get them out of the prone position as soon as possible because it restricts their breathing."

"You need to turn them on their side or have them sit up," he said.

Zimmerman's testimony came a day after that of the police sergeant who had been Chauvin's shift supervisor on the day of Floyd's arrest.

David Pleoger, who has since retired, was asked by prosecutors to give his opinion about the use of force in Floyd's arrest.

"When Mr Floyd was no longer offering up any resistance to the officers they could have ended their restraint," Pleoger said.

Derek Smith, a paramedic, testified on Thursday that Chauvin and other police officers were still on top of Floyd when he and a fellow paramedic arrived on the scene.

<a href="https://www.wionews.com/world/minneapolis-cashier-tells-jury-floyd-appeared-chatty-high-before-arrest-374614">Also read |&nbsp;Minneapolis cashier tells jury, Floyd appeared chatty, 'high' before arrest&nbsp;</a>

Smith said he checked the carotid artery in Floyd's neck to see if he had a pulse. "I did not feel one," he said. "In lay terms, I thought he was dead."

Floyd was loaded into an ambulance and the paramedics tried to revive him using chest compressions and a defibrillator. Their efforts were unsuccessful.

Chauvin, who has been in court every day taking meticulous notes and consulting with his attorney, faces up to 40 years in prison if convicted of the most serious charge -- second-degree murder. His trial is to resume on Monday and is expected to continue for another three weeks.

The other three former police officers involved in the arrest -- Tou Thao, Thomas Lane, and J Alexander Kueng -- are to be tried separately later this year.

(with inputs from agencies)

Police officer Derek Chauvin's use of force against George Floyd was "totally unnecessary," the longest-serving officer in the Minneapolis Police Department has testified.

Police officer Derek Chauvin's use of force against George Floyd was "totally unnecessary," the longest-serving officer in the Minneapolis Police Department has testified. Lieutenant Richard Zimmerman, testifying for the prosecution on the fifth day of Chauvin's murder and manslaughter trial on Friday, said the sacked 19-year veteran officer had violated department policies on the use of force. Zimmerman had reviewed bystander video and police bodycam footage of Floyd's May 25, 2020 arrest by Chauvin and three other officers who are also facing charges. Video shows Chauvin, who is white, kneeling on the neck of a handcuffed Floyd for more than nine minutes following the arrest of the 46-year-old Black man for passing a counterfeit $20 bill in a nearby store. When asked what he thought about the 45-year-old Chauvin's use of force against Floyd, Zimmerman said: "Totally unnecessary." "Pulling him down to the ground facedown and putting your knee on a neck for that amount of time, it's just uncalled for," he said. "I saw no reason why the officers felt they were in danger -- if that's what they felt, and that's what they would have to feel -- to use that kind of force," he said. Floyd's death sparked protests against racial injustice and police brutality across the United States and around the world. Prosecutors are seeking to prove that Chauvin's actions led to the death of Floyd, who was lying on his stomach, facedown in the street saying repeatedly: "I can't breathe." Also read | George Floyd's girlfriend testifies at Chauvin murder trial Eric Nelson, the former officer's defence attorney, claims Floyd died due to illegal drug use and underlying medical conditions. Zimmerman, who joined the Minneapolis Police Department in 1985 and currently heads the homicide unit, was asked if he had been trained to "kneel on the neck of someone who is handcuffed behind their back in the prone position?" "No I haven't," he said. Once a suspect is handcuffed "that person is yours," he said. "He's your responsibility. His safety is your responsibility." "Once a person is cuffed, the threat level goes down, all the way," he said. "They're cuffed. How can they really hurt you?" Zimmerman also said that once a suspect is in handcuffs "you need to get them out of the prone position as soon as possible because it restricts their breathing." "You need to turn them on their side or have them sit up," he said. Zimmerman's testimony came a day after that of the police sergeant who had been Chauvin's shift supervisor on the day of Floyd's arrest. David Pleoger, who has since retired, was asked by prosecutors to give his opinion about the use of force in Floyd's arrest. "When Mr Floyd was no longer offering up any resistance to the officers they could have ended their restraint," Pleoger said. Derek Smith, a paramedic, testified on Thursday that Chauvin and other police officers were still on top of Floyd when he and a fellow paramedic arrived on the scene. Also read | Minneapolis cashier tells jury, Floyd appeared chatty, 'high' before arrest Smith said he checked the carotid artery in Floyd's neck to see if he had a pulse. "I did not feel one," he said. "In lay terms, I thought he was dead." Floyd was loaded into an ambulance and the paramedics tried to revive him using chest compressions and a defibrillator. Their efforts were unsuccessful. Chauvin, who has been in court every day taking meticulous notes and consulting with his attorney, faces up to 40 years in prison if convicted of the most serious charge -- second-degree murder. His trial is to resume on Monday and is expected to continue for another three weeks. The other three former police officers involved in the arrest -- Tou Thao, Thomas Lane, and J Alexander Kueng -- are to be tried separately later this year. (with inputs from agencies)

Chauvin's use of force on Floyd 'totally unnecessary', senior officer testifies

The girlfriend of George Floyd, a 46-year-old Black man who was mercilessly killed by a police officer in Minneapolis last year, took the witness stand on Thursday. She spoke about how their relationship progressed, and how an addiction to painkillers took hold of their life together.

The death of Floyd had set off protests across the United States and around the world over racial injustice and police brutality against Black people -- in the form of Black Lives Matter movement.

Courteney Ross, 45, was the first witness who personally knew Floyd to testify at the trial of Derek Chauvin, the former Minneapolis policeman charged with murdering the man she loved by kneeling on his neck during an arrest last May.

In her testimony, Ross described how her romance with Floyd began in 2017 when he offered to pray with her. She also spoke about addiction: as with millions of other Americans, Floyd and Ross struggled to quit opioids.

They both suffered from chronic pain: Courteney's was in my neck, his was in his back.

<a href="https://www.wionews.com/world/minneapolis-cashier-tells-jury-floyd-appeared-chatty-high-before-arrest-374614">Also read |&nbsp;Minneapolis cashier tells jury, Floyd appeared chatty, 'high' before arrest&nbsp;</a>

Prosecutors wanted the jury to hear Ross's frank account of opioid use to undermine a central plank of Chauvin's defence in a trial seen as a litmus test of accountability in US policing.

Chauvin's lawyers argue that Floyd's death, which the county medical examiner ruled a homicide at the hands of police, was really an overdose from the fentanyl found in his blood at an autopsy.

Prosecutors have said Eric Nelson, Chauvin's lead attorney, has sought to raise the drug use in an effort to muddy Floyd's character and that the theory would be contradicted by medical evidence.

Nelson seemed to acknowledge the sensitivity when he stood up to cross-examine Ross: "I'm sorry to hear about your struggles with opioid addiction," he began. "Thank you for sharing that with the jury."

When asked by prosecutors in the fourth day of witness testimony how she first met Floyd, Ross said she first met Floyd in August 2017 at a Salvation Army homeless shelter, where he worked as a security guard. She was waiting in the lobby to visit the father of her son after closing up the coffee shop where she worked. Floyd approached her.

"Floyd has this great, deep, southern voice, raspy," she said, "and he was, like, 'Sis'? You OK, sis'?'"

He sensed she felt sad and alone and offered to pray with her.

<a href="https://www.wionews.com/world/witnesses-to-george-floyds-deadly-arrest-tell-jury-of-their-shock-horror-374391">Also read |&nbsp;Witnesses to George Floyd's deadly arrest tell jury of their shock, horror</a>

"It was so sweet," Ross said, dabbing a tissue to her eyes. "At the time I had lost a lot of faith in God."

They had their first kiss in the lobby that night and except an occasional break were together until his death, she said.

In his cellphone, Floyd listed Ross, a mother of two, as 'Mama.'

They took walks in the parks and around the lakes of Ross's native Minneapolis, which was still new to the Texas-raised Floyd, and dined out often: "He was a big man," she said, describing his daily weightlifting, "and it look a lot of energy to keep him going."

She said he adored his two young daughters and was a "mama's boy."

After his mother's death in 2018 he seemed "kind of like a shell of himself, like he was broken."

At times the couple took prescribed painkillers. At other times they bought OxyContin and other pills on the black market. Sometimes they beat the habit; sometimes they relapsed. 
"Addiction, in my opinion, is a lifelong struggle," she said. "It's not something that comes and goes, it's something I'll deal with forever."

Ross said her last conversation with Floyd was on May 24, when they spoke on the telephone.

A day later, Floyd was pinned under Chauvin's knee, under arrest on suspicion of buying cigarettes at a food store with a counterfeit $20 bill.

The jury has heard three days' of testimony by onlookers who said they screamed at Chauvin and other officers, imploring them to check Floyd's pulse.

On Thursday, paramedics who arrived at the scene testified that they had to move police off Floyd, who by then had stopped breathing, had no pulse and whose pupils were dilated.

(with inputs from agencies)

The girlfriend of George Floyd, a 46-year-old Black man who was mercilessly killed by a police officer in Minneapolis last year, took the witness stand on Thursday.

The girlfriend of George Floyd, a 46-year-old Black man who was mercilessly killed by a police officer in Minneapolis last year, took the witness stand on Thursday. She spoke about how their relationship progressed, and how an addiction to painkillers took hold of their life together. The death of Floyd had set off protests across the United States and around the world over racial injustice and police brutality against Black people -- in the form of Black Lives Matter movement. Courteney Ross, 45, was the first witness who personally knew Floyd to testify at the trial of Derek Chauvin, the former Minneapolis policeman charged with murdering the man she loved by kneeling on his neck during an arrest last May. In her testimony, Ross described how her romance with Floyd began in 2017 when he offered to pray with her. She also spoke about addiction: as with millions of other Americans, Floyd and Ross struggled to quit opioids. They both suffered from chronic pain: Courteney's was in my neck, his was in his back. Also read | Minneapolis cashier tells jury, Floyd appeared chatty, 'high' before arrest Prosecutors wanted the jury to hear Ross's frank account of opioid use to undermine a central plank of Chauvin's defence in a trial seen as a litmus test of accountability in US policing. Chauvin's lawyers argue that Floyd's death, which the county medical examiner ruled a homicide at the hands of police, was really an overdose from the fentanyl found in his blood at an autopsy. Prosecutors have said Eric Nelson, Chauvin's lead attorney, has sought to raise the drug use in an effort to muddy Floyd's character and that the theory would be contradicted by medical evidence. Nelson seemed to acknowledge the sensitivity when he stood up to cross-examine Ross: "I'm sorry to hear about your struggles with opioid addiction," he began. "Thank you for sharing that with the jury." When asked by prosecutors in the fourth day of witness testimony how she first met Floyd, Ross said she first met Floyd in August 2017 at a Salvation Army homeless shelter, where he worked as a security guard. She was waiting in the lobby to visit the father of her son after closing up the coffee shop where she worked. Floyd approached her. "Floyd has this great, deep, southern voice, raspy," she said, "and he was, like, 'Sis'? You OK, sis'?'" He sensed she felt sad and alone and offered to pray with her. Also read | Witnesses to George Floyd's deadly arrest tell jury of their shock, horror "It was so sweet," Ross said, dabbing a tissue to her eyes. "At the time I had lost a lot of faith in God." They had their first kiss in the lobby that night and except an occasional break were together until his death, she said. In his cellphone, Floyd listed Ross, a mother of two, as 'Mama.' They took walks in the parks and around the lakes of Ross's native Minneapolis, which was still new to the Texas-raised Floyd, and dined out often: "He was a big man," she said, describing his daily weightlifting, "and it look a lot of energy to keep him going." She said he adored his two young daughters and was a "mama's boy." After his mother's death in 2018 he seemed "kind of like a shell of himself, like he was broken." At times the couple took prescribed painkillers. At other times they bought OxyContin and other pills on the black market. Sometimes they beat the habit; sometimes they relapsed. "Addiction, in my opinion, is a lifelong struggle," she said. "It's not something that comes and goes, it's something I'll deal with forever." Ross said her last conversation with Floyd was on May 24, when they spoke on the telephone. A day later, Floyd was pinned under Chauvin's knee, under arrest on suspicion of buying cigarettes at a food store with a counterfeit $20 bill. The jury has heard three days' of testimony by onlookers who said they screamed at Chauvin and other officers, imploring them to check Floyd's pulse. On Thursday, paramedics who arrived at the scene testified that they had to move police off Floyd, who by then had stopped breathing, had no pulse and whose pupils were dilated. (with inputs from agencies)

George Floyd's girlfriend testifies at Chauvin murder trial

George Floyd’s girlfriend told the Derek Chauvin murder trial that the couple shared addiction to opioid painkillers that they struggled to overcome in the weeks before his death.

George Floyd Murder Trial Day 3: Floyd’s girlfriend details their opioid addiction

Day 3 of George Floyd's murder trial was marked by the emotional testimonies of eyewitnesses. The onlookers claimed that they grew increasingly angry as they beg Minneapolis officer Derek Chauvin to take his knees off George Floyd's neck however he refused to listen.

Day 3 of Derek Chauvin Trial:  Prosecutors detail sequence of events

During the third day at the trial of the former officer Derek Chauvin, new footage from inside a convenience store in Minneapolis was played and that's why George Floyd was taken into custody by the police.

George Floyd Murder Trial Day 3: New footage from inside a convenience store played

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov on Thursday&nbsp;accused the United States of seeking to spread what he called "a cultural revolution" around the world.

In an interview with political scientists broadcast on national television, Moscow's top diplomat said&nbsp;"they have colossal possibilities for it.''

"Hollywood is now also changing its rules so that everything reflects the diversity of modern society," he said, calling that "a form of censorship."

"I've seen Black people play in Shakespeare's comedies. Only I don't know when there will be a white Othello," Lavrov said.

"You see this is absurd. Political correctness taken to the point of absurdity will not end well."

Lavrov warned that anti-white racism might be building in the United States and said that political correctness "taken to the extreme" would have lamentable consequences.

Calling Russia a supporter of&nbsp;the worldwide trend, Lavrov said that "everyone wants to get rid of racism".

"We were pioneers of the movement promoting equal rights of people of any skin colour," he said.

But Lavrov stressed it was important "not to switch to the other extreme which we saw during the 'BLM' (Black Lives Matter) events and the aggression against white people, white US citizens."

Founded in the United States in 2013, Black Lives Matter is a movement that became a rallying cry after the killing by US police of an unarmed black man, George Floyd, last May.

The movement has led to a major debate about race, rights of people of colour and the toppling of statues of figures linked to slavery or colonisation in countries including the United States and the United Kingdom.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov on Thursday accused the United States of seeking to spread what he called "a cultural revolution" around the world. In an interview with political scientists broadcast on national television, Moscow's top diplomat said "they have colossal possibilities for it.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov on Thursday accused the United States of seeking to spread what he called "a cultural revolution" around the world. In an interview with political scientists broadcast on national television, Moscow's top diplomat said "they have colossal possibilities for it.'' "Hollywood is now also changing its rules so that everything reflects the diversity of modern society," he said, calling that "a form of censorship." "I've seen Black people play in Shakespeare's comedies. Only I don't know when there will be a white Othello," Lavrov said. "You see this is absurd. Political correctness taken to the point of absurdity will not end well." Lavrov warned that anti-white racism might be building in the United States and said that political correctness "taken to the extreme" would have lamentable consequences. Calling Russia a supporter of the worldwide trend, Lavrov said that "everyone wants to get rid of racism". "We were pioneers of the movement promoting equal rights of people of any skin colour," he said. But Lavrov stressed it was important "not to switch to the other extreme which we saw during the 'BLM' (Black Lives Matter) events and the aggression against white people, white US citizens." Founded in the United States in 2013, Black Lives Matter is a movement that became a rallying cry after the killing by US police of an unarmed black man, George Floyd, last May. The movement has led to a major debate about race, rights of people of colour and the toppling of statues of figures linked to slavery or colonisation in countries including the United States and the United Kingdom.

Russia accuses US of seeking to spread 'cultural revolution' worldwide

Day 2 of George Floyd'S murder trial was marked by the emotional testimonies of eyewitnesses. The onlookers claimed that they grew increasingly angry as they beg Minneapolis officer Derek Chauvin to take his knees off George Floyd's neck however he refused to listen.

Store employee testifies in Derek Chauvin trial

George Floyd Murder Trial Day 2: Emotionally jarring testimony by underage eyewitness

Prosecution witnesses on Tuesday described in searing detail their horror in watching the final moments of George Floyd`s life as they testified against Derek Chauvin, the former Minneapolis policeman charged with Floyd`s murder. 
 
Jurors listened with visible sympathy as they heard from the teenager who recorded a video viewed by millions worldwide that shows Chauvin, who is white, using his knee to pin the neck of Floyd, a Black man in handcuffs, to the ground. 
 
Darnella Frazier, an 18-year-old student who told the court she suffers from social anxiety, broke down in tears as she described her feelings of guilt and anger after witnessing the arrest on May 25, 2020. 
 
"He had this cold look, heartless," Frazier said, as Chauvin listened alongside his lawyer at a nearby table, taking notes in a yellow legal pad. 
 
Before her testimony, a professional mixed martial arts fighter spoke about his increasing agitation as he watched the prone Floyd struggle for breath. Later in the day, a uniformed firefighter who was at the scene while off duty described her distress at Chauvin and other officers stopping her from giving chest compressions to Floyd, who was by then unconscious. 
 
"Mr. Chauvin seemed very comfortable with the majority of his weight balanced on top of Mr. Floyd," Genevieve Hansen, who took the stand in her white Minneapolis Fire Department uniform with a badge and black tie, told jurors. "In my memory, he had his hand in his pocket." 
 
Frazier`s footage, which prosecutors say shows excessive force, led to one of the largest protest movements seen in the United States in decades, with daily marches against disproportionate rates of police violence against Black people. 
 
Lawyers for Chauvin, 45, say he followed his police training and is not guilty of the charges brought by the Minnesota attorney general`s office of second-degree murder, third-degree murder or second-degree manslaughter. 
 
`I BELIEVE I WITNESSED A MURDER` 
 
Donald Williams, the mixed martial arts fighter, can be heard in bystander videos screaming insults at Chauvin and demanding police check for Floyd`s pulse. He told jurors he believed that Chauvin was using his knee in a "blood choke" on Floyd, a wrestling move to knock an opponent unconscious, and a "shimmy" move to tighten pressure on Floyd`s neck. 
 
A 911 call Williams made after the arrest was played. Williams dabbed his eyes with a tissue as his distressed voice filled the courtroom. 
 
"I believe I witnessed a murder," Williams, 33, told the jury. "So I felt I needed to call the police on the police." 
 
Chauvin`s lead lawyer, Eric Nelson, has sought to convince the jury that Chauvin may have felt threatened by bystanders, which prosecutors dispute. 
 
In a sometimes tense cross-examination, Nelson read aloud the insults, some of them obscene, that Williams hurls at Chauvin in the video. 
 
"You call him a `tough guy`?" Nelson asked, demanding only a `yes` or `no` answer. Williams looked away with a slight smile as each insult was read out. 
 
"You call him a `bum` at least 13 times?" Nelson continued. 
 
"If that`s what you count in the video," Williams replied, smiling again, "then that`s what you got: 13." 
 
Later on Tuesday, Hensen said she was rebuffed by another policeman when she sought aid for Floyd. She testified the other officer told her: "If you really are a Minneapolis firefighter, you would know better than to get involved." 
 
She can be heard on the video screaming at the police to check Floyd`s pulse. "I pled and was desperate," she said. A water bottle shook in her hand as she sipped it to calm her tears. 
 
"It`s what I would have done for anybody," she said. 
 
CHILD WITNESSES 
 
Frazier was walking her 9-year-old cousin to buy some snacks at Cup Foods, where a worker had moments before accused Floyd of using a fake $20 bill, when she saw police arresting Floyd on the road outside. 
 
She began to cry when prosecutors brought up a still from her video, showing the moment when Chauvin, his knee on Floyd`s neck, appears to look directly into Frazier`s camera lens. 
 
She was asked by both sides how producing the most famous record of Floyd`s death had changed her life. 
 
"When I look at George Floyd, I look at my dad, I look at my brothers, I look at my cousins, my uncles, because they are all Black," she said. "It could have been one of them." 
 
She said she would sometimes stay up late at night thinking of Floyd, apologising to him for "not saving his life." 
 
Minutes later, Frazier`s young cousin, her hair in braids, took her place in the witness stand, saying in a small voice she recognized Chauvin as the man she saw kneeling on Floyd. 
 
"I was sad," the girl said, "and kind of mad."

Prosecution witnesses on Tuesday described in searing detail their horror in watching the final moments of George Floyd`s life as they testified against Derek Chauvin, the former Minneapolis policeman charged with Floyd`s murder.

Prosecution witnesses on Tuesday described in searing detail their horror in watching the final moments of George Floyd`s life as they testified against Derek Chauvin, the former Minneapolis policeman charged with Floyd`s murder. Jurors listened with visible sympathy as they heard from the teenager who recorded a video viewed by millions worldwide that shows Chauvin, who is white, using his knee to pin the neck of Floyd, a Black man in handcuffs, to the ground. Darnella Frazier, an 18-year-old student who told the court she suffers from social anxiety, broke down in tears as she described her feelings of guilt and anger after witnessing the arrest on May 25, 2020. "He had this cold look, heartless," Frazier said, as Chauvin listened alongside his lawyer at a nearby table, taking notes in a yellow legal pad. Before her testimony, a professional mixed martial arts fighter spoke about his increasing agitation as he watched the prone Floyd struggle for breath. Later in the day, a uniformed firefighter who was at the scene while off duty described her distress at Chauvin and other officers stopping her from giving chest compressions to Floyd, who was by then unconscious. "Mr. Chauvin seemed very comfortable with the majority of his weight balanced on top of Mr. Floyd," Genevieve Hansen, who took the stand in her white Minneapolis Fire Department uniform with a badge and black tie, told jurors. "In my memory, he had his hand in his pocket." Frazier`s footage, which prosecutors say shows excessive force, led to one of the largest protest movements seen in the United States in decades, with daily marches against disproportionate rates of police violence against Black people. Lawyers for Chauvin, 45, say he followed his police training and is not guilty of the charges brought by the Minnesota attorney general`s office of second-degree murder, third-degree murder or second-degree manslaughter. `I BELIEVE I WITNESSED A MURDER` Donald Williams, the mixed martial arts fighter, can be heard in bystander videos screaming insults at Chauvin and demanding police check for Floyd`s pulse. He told jurors he believed that Chauvin was using his knee in a "blood choke" on Floyd, a wrestling move to knock an opponent unconscious, and a "shimmy" move to tighten pressure on Floyd`s neck. A 911 call Williams made after the arrest was played. Williams dabbed his eyes with a tissue as his distressed voice filled the courtroom. "I believe I witnessed a murder," Williams, 33, told the jury. "So I felt I needed to call the police on the police." Chauvin`s lead lawyer, Eric Nelson, has sought to convince the jury that Chauvin may have felt threatened by bystanders, which prosecutors dispute. In a sometimes tense cross-examination, Nelson read aloud the insults, some of them obscene, that Williams hurls at Chauvin in the video. "You call him a `tough guy`?" Nelson asked, demanding only a `yes` or `no` answer. Williams looked away with a slight smile as each insult was read out. "You call him a `bum` at least 13 times?" Nelson continued. "If that`s what you count in the video," Williams replied, smiling again, "then that`s what you got: 13." Later on Tuesday, Hensen said she was rebuffed by another policeman when she sought aid for Floyd. She testified the other officer told her: "If you really are a Minneapolis firefighter, you would know better than to get involved." She can be heard on the video screaming at the police to check Floyd`s pulse. "I pled and was desperate," she said. A water bottle shook in her hand as she sipped it to calm her tears. "It`s what I would have done for anybody," she said. CHILD WITNESSES Frazier was walking her 9-year-old cousin to buy some snacks at Cup Foods, where a worker had moments before accused Floyd of using a fake $20 bill, when she saw police arresting Floyd on the road outside. She began to cry when prosecutors brought up a still from her video, showing the moment when Chauvin, his knee on Floyd`s neck, appears to look directly into Frazier`s camera lens. She was asked by both sides how producing the most famous record of Floyd`s death had changed her life. "When I look at George Floyd, I look at my dad, I look at my brothers, I look at my cousins, my uncles, because they are all Black," she said. "It could have been one of them." She said she would sometimes stay up late at night thinking of Floyd, apologising to him for "not saving his life." Minutes later, Frazier`s young cousin, her hair in braids, took her place in the witness stand, saying in a small voice she recognized Chauvin as the man she saw kneeling on Floyd. "I was sad," the girl said, "and kind of mad."

Witnesses to George Floyd's deadly arrest tell jury of their shock, horror

The George Floyd Murder trial is a test of the American society & judiciary. If the U.S. fails this test, the implications could be global.

Gravitas: Will Black Americans get justice?

The US will release a report on human rights in nearly 200 nations. But, is it doing enough to protect the rights of its own citizens? 10 months ago, the world saw the final minutes of George Floyd. Asian Americans are being targeted in hate crimes.

Gravitas: Is America protecting the human rights of its own citizens?

Judge admonishes witness in Derek Chauvin trial

A mixed martial arts fighter dabbed tears from his eyes as he described calling 911 after witnessing the deadly arrest of&nbsp;George&nbsp;Floyd in Minneapolis last May, the third witness called in the murder trial of former police officer Derek Chauvin.

Prosecutors from the Minnesota attorney general's office have begun their case by calling several people who witnessed the arrest on May 25, 2020: a Minneapolis 911 dispatcher who became alarmed by live police surveillance video of the arrest and a young woman who worked at the gas station across the street who recorded the scene on her cellphone.

Also see|&nbsp;<a href="https://www.wionews.com/photos/opening-statements-begin-in-derek-chauvin-trial-for-george-floyds-death-374151" hreflang="en">Opening statements begin in Derek Chauvin trial for George Floyd's death</a>

During the witness testimony, prosecutors have played videos of the arrest to the jury taken from multiple angles, including the bystanders' video that shows Chauvin, who is white, pressing his knee into the neck of a dying Floyd, a 46-year-old Black man, for about nine minutes.

The footage, which prosecutors say show excessive force, horrified people around the world and led to one of the largest protest movements seen in the United States in decades. Many have held up Floyd's death as an example of the brutality they say is routinely doled out by US&nbsp;law enforcement in encounters with people of colour.

Lawyers for Chauvin, 45, said he followed his police training and is not guilty of the charges of second-degree murder, third-degree murder or second-degree manslaughter.

Donald Williams, eyewitness

Williams is a 33-year-old professional mixed martial arts fighter and father who can be heard on the videos of the arrest of Floyd screaming at Chauvin shortly after Floyd was accused of passing a fake $20 bill.

His is one of the loudest and deepest voices in the videos, and Hennepin County District Judge Peter Cahill, showing rising impatience, cut off some of Williams' longer answers when the defence objected that the witness was speculating on the medical cause of Floyd's death.

"I feel he was in very much danger, to see another man like me being controlled —," Williams, who is Black, said of Floyd before the judge interrupted him.

Williams, 33, calls Chauvin a "bum" in the video, accuses him of "enjoying" his restraining of Floyd. He told jurors he believed that Chauvin was using his knee in a "blood choke" on Floyd, a wrestling move to knock an opponent unconscious, and a "shimmy" move to tighten pressure on Floyd's neck. He told the jury he feared for Floyd's life.

"You can see his eyes slowly rolling back," Williams said. "You can see that he's trying to gasp for air."

Chauvin's lawyers have said that Chauvin was distracted from "the care" of Floyd by the angry bystanders. Prosecutors asked Williams whether he heard any bystanders threaten the police, and he said no.

A 911 call Williams made after the arrest was played to the jury. Williams dabbed his eyes with a white tissue as his distressed voice filled the room.

"I believe I witnessed a murder," Williams told the jury. "So I felt I needed to call the police on the police."

In a sometimes tense cross-examination, both Chauvin's lead lawyer, Eric Nelson, and Williams found themselves using their arms to demonstrate different kinds of chokeholds on themselves as Nelson sought to show the jury that Williams has not himself trained police in using force.

Nelson then read aloud some of the obscene insults Williams hurled at Chauvin in the video.

"You call him a 'tough guy'?" Nelson asked, demanding only a 'yes' or 'no' answer. "You call him a 'real man?'"

Williams looked over at Chauvin with a slight smile as each insult was readout.

"You call him a 'bum' at least 13 times?" Nelson continued.

"If that's what you count in the video," Williams replied with a slight smile, "then that's what you got: 13."

A mixed martial arts fighter dabbed tears from his eyes as he described calling 911 after witnessing the deadly arrest of George Floyd in Minneapolis last May, the third witness called in the murder trial of former police officer Derek Chauvin.

A mixed martial arts fighter dabbed tears from his eyes as he described calling 911 after witnessing the deadly arrest of George Floyd in Minneapolis last May, the third witness called in the murder trial of former police officer Derek Chauvin. Prosecutors from the Minnesota attorney general's office have begun their case by calling several people who witnessed the arrest on May 25, 2020: a Minneapolis 911 dispatcher who became alarmed by live police surveillance video of the arrest and a young woman who worked at the gas station across the street who recorded the scene on her cellphone. Also see| Opening statements begin in Derek Chauvin trial for George Floyd's death During the witness testimony, prosecutors have played videos of the arrest to the jury taken from multiple angles, including the bystanders' video that shows Chauvin, who is white, pressing his knee into the neck of a dying Floyd, a 46-year-old Black man, for about nine minutes. The footage, which prosecutors say show excessive force, horrified people around the world and led to one of the largest protest movements seen in the United States in decades. Many have held up Floyd's death as an example of the brutality they say is routinely doled out by US law enforcement in encounters with people of colour. Lawyers for Chauvin, 45, said he followed his police training and is not guilty of the charges of second-degree murder, third-degree murder or second-degree manslaughter. Donald Williams, eyewitness Williams is a 33-year-old professional mixed martial arts fighter and father who can be heard on the videos of the arrest of Floyd screaming at Chauvin shortly after Floyd was accused of passing a fake $20 bill. His is one of the loudest and deepest voices in the videos, and Hennepin County District Judge Peter Cahill, showing rising impatience, cut off some of Williams' longer answers when the defence objected that the witness was speculating on the medical cause of Floyd's death. "I feel he was in very much danger, to see another man like me being controlled —," Williams, who is Black, said of Floyd before the judge interrupted him. Williams, 33, calls Chauvin a "bum" in the video, accuses him of "enjoying" his restraining of Floyd. He told jurors he believed that Chauvin was using his knee in a "blood choke" on Floyd, a wrestling move to knock an opponent unconscious, and a "shimmy" move to tighten pressure on Floyd's neck. He told the jury he feared for Floyd's life. "You can see his eyes slowly rolling back," Williams said. "You can see that he's trying to gasp for air." Chauvin's lawyers have said that Chauvin was distracted from "the care" of Floyd by the angry bystanders. Prosecutors asked Williams whether he heard any bystanders threaten the police, and he said no. A 911 call Williams made after the arrest was played to the jury. Williams dabbed his eyes with a white tissue as his distressed voice filled the room. "I believe I witnessed a murder," Williams told the jury. "So I felt I needed to call the police on the police." In a sometimes tense cross-examination, both Chauvin's lead lawyer, Eric Nelson, and Williams found themselves using their arms to demonstrate different kinds of chokeholds on themselves as Nelson sought to show the jury that Williams has not himself trained police in using force. Nelson then read aloud some of the obscene insults Williams hurled at Chauvin in the video. "You call him a 'tough guy'?" Nelson asked, demanding only a 'yes' or 'no' answer. "You call him a 'real man?'" Williams looked over at Chauvin with a slight smile as each insult was readout. "You call him a 'bum' at least 13 times?" Nelson continued. "If that's what you count in the video," Williams replied with a slight smile, "then that's what you got: 13."

'I called the police on the police,' witness recalls at Floyd trial

A white intensive care nurse who said if she saw someone on the street who needed help, she would feel obligated to step in. A Black grandmother who said she had no personal experience with the police or the criminal justice system.

A white widow who rides a motorcycle in her spare time and said she believes that “all lives matter.” A Black man who works in banking and said he was eager to serve on the jury of “the most historic case of my lifetime.”

These are some of the jurors appointed to weigh the evidence in the case of Derek Chauvin, the white former police officer who is accused of murdering George Floyd, a Black man.

The jury is a demographic mix: three Black men, one Black woman and two women who identified themselves as multiracial. There are two white men and four white women. They are urban and suburban, ranging in age from their 20s to their 60s. The two alternates are white women.

The jurors bring to the table a range of views about Chauvin, Floyd, race and policing, some forged by long life experience and some formed after the video of Floyd dying under Chauvin’s knee launched a new civil rights movement.

And yet they remain invisible, unseen by all but the very few people allowed into the courtroom. Because of the many threats against people involved in the case and the potential for outside pressure, the 12 jury members and two alternates remain anonymous and their faces cannot be shown on camera.

During opening arguments Monday, many of the jurors took notes, according to representatives of the news media who were allowed in the courtroom. During one replay of the video, a juror held her forehead, rubbing her face and eyes. All of the jury members are wearing face coverings because of coronavirus protocols, so parsing their reactions is even more difficult.

Most of what is known about the jurors comes from the jury selection process, more than two weeks of questioning that touched on virtually every contentious issue in American life, including COVID restrictions, Black Lives Matter, defunding the police, conspiracy theories and opioid addiction. The rest was provided by the court: a list of their approximate ages and races.

More than 300 potential jurors filled out a 14-page questionnaire that asked about their views on policing, protests, race and criminal justice, among other questions, and their answers showed the hurdles the defense must overcome in a case about which so much is widely known. Lawyers for the defense and the prosecution then questioned potential jurors one on one.

At least 10 of the 15 jurors and alternates chosen indicated that they had already formed a “somewhat negative” opinion of Chauvin. (The third alternate was dismissed Monday.) But their views were nuanced — several said they had positive views of the police but also believed that the criminal justice system is biased against Black people.

Juror No. 92, a white woman in her 40s, wrote on a questionnaire that she had a “very favorable” opinion of Blue Lives Matter.

“I would be terrified if our police departments were dismantled,” she wrote, according to what the defense lawyer read aloud during jury selection. “However, it is obvious that change needs to happen.”

Many of the jurors expressed dismay over what had happened to Floyd or questioned the actions of the four officers involved, three of whom will face charges in a separate trial. Juror No. 27, a Black man in his 30s, wrote that Floyd “could have been me or anyone else,” according to the answers that the defense read back to him during questioning. No. 52, also a Black man in his 30s, wrote, “My opinion has been, why didn’t the other officers stop Chauvin?”

Juror No. 89, the nurse, said that since Floyd had died she would have to conclude that police had knelt on him for “too long.” No. 44, a white executive at a health care nonprofit, said, “I do not know the laws and procedures of the police for detainment, but a man died and I’m sure that’s not procedure.”

The jurors said they could set their opinions and knowledge aside and consider only the evidence presented.

Throughout the questioning, both the defense and the prosecution probed jurors on their views about protests, riots, Black Lives Matter and Blue Lives Matter. They also undoubtedly considered the juror’s race, which has long been considered a clue to how someone might view a case.

Typically, the defense in a case like this would be more likely to strike jurors of color because they are considered more skeptical of law enforcement. But in this case, many white prospective jurors were critical of the police.

“I think what the defense has found is that, you know, race isn’t as useful a proxy — especially whiteness in this case isn’t as useful a proxy as it is in some other cases in which police officers are accused,” said Paul Butler, a former prosecutor and professor at Georgetown Law.

Some jurors spoke revealingly about how they had grappled with the turmoil of the past year.

Juror No. 44, the health care executive, recounted a conversation she had with a Black colleague about white privilege.

“I admit it, I didn’t get it,” she said. “Like, why do we have to call racism a new term?”

The colleague explained that she had to teach her son to keep his hands on the wheel and not move if the police stopped him, for his own safety.

“That was not something I ever thought about teaching my son,” the juror said.

The defense lawyer, Eric Nelson, used many of his questions to suggest to jurors that they did not know the whole story — previewing his opening statement Monday, when he tried to steer the jury away from what they know from the video and focus on other evidence, such as police training policies and medical records of Floyd.

After one prospective juror who wrote that from what she had seen, the police “appeared to take little action despite the pleas of George and bystanders,” Nelson asked if the woman had investigated what happened before or after the video. She acknowledged that she had not.

The racial makeup of the jury was more diverse than many expected — in fact, the jury has a higher percentage of Black people than the city of Minneapolis, which is about 20% Black.

But strong views about racism and police brutality based on personal experience could be enough to get passed over.

A Black potential juror, No. 76, said he has always wondered why police officers are rarely held accountable for the deaths of Black people, and sitting on the jury would put him “in the room to know why.”

He said that after someone was arrested or shot, officers would drive through his former neighborhood playing the song, “Another One Bites the Dust.”

Many of the jurors said they had mixed feelings, including anxiety and trepidation, when they received their jury summons and realized which case it was for. But then, they recognized that history had called.

“Everyone’s lives are changed by this incident and what happened,” Juror No. 44 said. “Everyone’s lives. And it’s not easy. For anyone.”

A white intensive care nurse who said if she saw someone on the street who needed help, she would feel obligated to step in. A Black grandmother who said she had no personal experience with the police or the criminal justice system.

A white intensive care nurse who said if she saw someone on the street who needed help, she would feel obligated to step in. A Black grandmother who said she had no personal experience with the police or the criminal justice system. A white widow who rides a motorcycle in her spare time and said she believes that “all lives matter.” A Black man who works in banking and said he was eager to serve on the jury of “the most historic case of my lifetime.” These are some of the jurors appointed to weigh the evidence in the case of Derek Chauvin, the white former police officer who is accused of murdering George Floyd, a Black man. The jury is a demographic mix: three Black men, one Black woman and two women who identified themselves as multiracial. There are two white men and four white women. They are urban and suburban, ranging in age from their 20s to their 60s. The two alternates are white women. The jurors bring to the table a range of views about Chauvin, Floyd, race and policing, some forged by long life experience and some formed after the video of Floyd dying under Chauvin’s knee launched a new civil rights movement. And yet they remain invisible, unseen by all but the very few people allowed into the courtroom. Because of the many threats against people involved in the case and the potential for outside pressure, the 12 jury members and two alternates remain anonymous and their faces cannot be shown on camera. During opening arguments Monday, many of the jurors took notes, according to representatives of the news media who were allowed in the courtroom. During one replay of the video, a juror held her forehead, rubbing her face and eyes. All of the jury members are wearing face coverings because of coronavirus protocols, so parsing their reactions is even more difficult. Most of what is known about the jurors comes from the jury selection process, more than two weeks of questioning that touched on virtually every contentious issue in American life, including COVID restrictions, Black Lives Matter, defunding the police, conspiracy theories and opioid addiction. The rest was provided by the court: a list of their approximate ages and races. More than 300 potential jurors filled out a 14-page questionnaire that asked about their views on policing, protests, race and criminal justice, among other questions, and their answers showed the hurdles the defense must overcome in a case about which so much is widely known. Lawyers for the defense and the prosecution then questioned potential jurors one on one. At least 10 of the 15 jurors and alternates chosen indicated that they had already formed a “somewhat negative” opinion of Chauvin. (The third alternate was dismissed Monday.) But their views were nuanced — several said they had positive views of the police but also believed that the criminal justice system is biased against Black people. Juror No. 92, a white woman in her 40s, wrote on a questionnaire that she had a “very favorable” opinion of Blue Lives Matter. “I would be terrified if our police departments were dismantled,” she wrote, according to what the defense lawyer read aloud during jury selection. “However, it is obvious that change needs to happen.” Many of the jurors expressed dismay over what had happened to Floyd or questioned the actions of the four officers involved, three of whom will face charges in a separate trial. Juror No. 27, a Black man in his 30s, wrote that Floyd “could have been me or anyone else,” according to the answers that the defense read back to him during questioning. No. 52, also a Black man in his 30s, wrote, “My opinion has been, why didn’t the other officers stop Chauvin?” Juror No. 89, the nurse, said that since Floyd had died she would have to conclude that police had knelt on him for “too long.” No. 44, a white executive at a health care nonprofit, said, “I do not know the laws and procedures of the police for detainment, but a man died and I’m sure that’s not procedure.” The jurors said they could set their opinions and knowledge aside and consider only the evidence presented. Throughout the questioning, both the defense and the prosecution probed jurors on their views about protests, riots, Black Lives Matter and Blue Lives Matter. They also undoubtedly considered the juror’s race, which has long been considered a clue to how someone might view a case. Typically, the defense in a case like this would be more likely to strike jurors of color because they are considered more skeptical of law enforcement. But in this case, many white prospective jurors were critical of the police. “I think what the defense has found is that, you know, race isn’t as useful a proxy — especially whiteness in this case isn’t as useful a proxy as it is in some other cases in which police officers are accused,” said Paul Butler, a former prosecutor and professor at Georgetown Law. Some jurors spoke revealingly about how they had grappled with the turmoil of the past year. Juror No. 44, the health care executive, recounted a conversation she had with a Black colleague about white privilege. “I admit it, I didn’t get it,” she said. “Like, why do we have to call racism a new term?” The colleague explained that she had to teach her son to keep his hands on the wheel and not move if the police stopped him, for his own safety. “That was not something I ever thought about teaching my son,” the juror said. The defense lawyer, Eric Nelson, used many of his questions to suggest to jurors that they did not know the whole story — previewing his opening statement Monday, when he tried to steer the jury away from what they know from the video and focus on other evidence, such as police training policies and medical records of Floyd. After one prospective juror who wrote that from what she had seen, the police “appeared to take little action despite the pleas of George and bystanders,” Nelson asked if the woman had investigated what happened before or after the video. She acknowledged that she had not. The racial makeup of the jury was more diverse than many expected — in fact, the jury has a higher percentage of Black people than the city of Minneapolis, which is about 20% Black. But strong views about racism and police brutality based on personal experience could be enough to get passed over. A Black potential juror, No. 76, said he has always wondered why police officers are rarely held accountable for the deaths of Black people, and sitting on the jury would put him “in the room to know why.” He said that after someone was arrested or shot, officers would drive through his former neighborhood playing the song, “Another One Bites the Dust.” Many of the jurors said they had mixed feelings, including anxiety and trepidation, when they received their jury summons and realized which case it was for. But then, they recognized that history had called. “Everyone’s lives are changed by this incident and what happened,” Juror No. 44 said. “Everyone’s lives. And it’s not easy. For anyone.”

Who are the jurors in the Chauvin trial?

The first day in the murder trial of former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin, who is accused of killing George Floyd, featured an intense series of opening arguments, numerous photographs, videos of the killing, and testimony from three witnesses.

George Floyd Murder Trial: Prosecutor says Chauvin betrayed his oath

Opening arguments in the murder trial of Derek Chauvin, a former Minneapolis police officer charged over George Floyd’s death last year. The African American's May 2020 killing drew outrage and a worldwide reckoning on police reform and racial justice.

Opening arguments in George Floyd case set to begin, US braces for Chauvin's trial

A panel of 12 jurors and two alternates was formally seated Monday before the start of opening arguments in Chauvin’s trial.

Opening arguments delivered in trial of Derek Chauvin

“America is on trial,” said civil rights leader Reverend Al Sharpton, who joined the family members and lawyers in front of the courthouse.

Rev. Sharpton speaks with George Floyd's family

Mexican prosecutors have opened a homicide investigation into the death of a woman who was shown on video being pinned to the ground by a female police officer.

A video published by news site Noticaribe showed the woman squirming and crying out as she lay face down on a road with a policewoman kneeling on her back while male officers stood by.

The video then cut to show the unidentified woman's prone, handcuffed body lying on the road. Officers are later seen moving the limp, shoeless body into the back of a police truck.

Police were "probably" involved in her death, the attorney general's office of the state of Quintana Roo said in a statement following the woman's death on Saturday in the Caribbean beach resort of Tulum.

A spokeswoman for the attorney general's office said it was not clear why the woman had been detained and that the cause of her death was still under investigation.&nbsp;

Three male officers and one female officer had so far been questioned.

The National Commission to Prevent and Eradicate Violence Against Women (CONAVIM) condemned the incident on Twitter and said those responsible must be held to account.

Also, Alejandro Encinas, deputy interior minister responsible for human rights, called the incident an act of "police abuse."

The case took prominence as it bore similarity to that of George Floyd, an African-American man whose death in May as a Minneapolis police officer knelt on his neck sparked racial justice protests in the United States and around the world.

Mexican prosecutors have opened a homicide investigation into the death of a woman who was shown on video being pinned to the ground by a female police officer. A video published by news site Noticaribe showed the woman squirming and crying out as she lay face down on a road with a policewoman kneeling on her back while male officers stood by.

Mexican prosecutors have opened a homicide investigation into the death of a woman who was shown on video being pinned to the ground by a female police officer. A video published by news site Noticaribe showed the woman squirming and crying out as she lay face down on a road with a policewoman kneeling on her back while male officers stood by. The video then cut to show the unidentified woman's prone, handcuffed body lying on the road. Officers are later seen moving the limp, shoeless body into the back of a police truck. Police were "probably" involved in her death, the attorney general's office of the state of Quintana Roo said in a statement following the woman's death on Saturday in the Caribbean beach resort of Tulum. A spokeswoman for the attorney general's office said it was not clear why the woman had been detained and that the cause of her death was still under investigation. Three male officers and one female officer had so far been questioned. The National Commission to Prevent and Eradicate Violence Against Women (CONAVIM) condemned the incident on Twitter and said those responsible must be held to account. Also, Alejandro Encinas, deputy interior minister responsible for human rights, called the incident an act of "police abuse." The case took prominence as it bore similarity to that of George Floyd, an African-American man whose death in May as a Minneapolis police officer knelt on his neck sparked racial justice protests in the United States and around the world.

Mexico opens probe into death of woman shown pinned to ground by police

A jury will gather on Monday to hear whether the deadly arrest of George Floyd, which ignited a global protest movement 10 months ago, amounts to murder as opening arguments commence in the trial of former Minneapolis policeman Derek Chauvin.&nbsp;

Over two weeks of jury selection, many jurors told Hennepin County District Judge Peter Cahill and the lawyers on each side that they recognised the scrutiny their deliberations would come under, not least by those&nbsp;who view the trial as a reckoning for how Black people are policed in the United States.&nbsp;

"It's been a long time coming," a gospel choir sang on Sunday evening at a prayer service attended by Floyd's relatives. "But I know a change is gonna come."&nbsp;

The service was held in a church a few blocks east of where Chauvin, who was white, was caught on a bystander's video, with his knee on the neck of Floyd, a 46-year-old Black man.&nbsp;

Philonise Floyd, a brother of George Floyd, said before the service began that he had faith that prosecutors from the Minnesota attorney general's office would see Chauvin convicted.&nbsp;

"The video is the proof," he said.&nbsp;

Chauvin, 45, has pleaded not guilty to second-degree murder, third-degree murder and second-degree manslaughter, with his lawyers arguing that he followed his training and that the main cause of Floyd's death, which the county examiner ruled a homicide, was a drug overdose. He faces up to 40 years in prison if convicted on the most serious charge.&nbsp;

Jurors will head to a courtroom in a tower in downtown Minneapolis ringed with concrete barriers, barbed wire and soldiers from the state's National Guard. For blocks around, businesses are closed and windows boarded up, fearing a repeat of the arson and other property damage that occurred after Floyd's death.&nbsp;

Less than three miles away, residents maintain a vigil at the intersection where Chauvin kept his knee on a handcuffed Floyd's neck for about nine minutes as Floyd uses his final breaths to plead for his life. Chauvin and three other officers were arresting Floyd on suspicion of passing a fake $20 bill at the Cup Foods grocery store nearby.&nbsp;

Four sets of barricades block police from coming to the intersection, now called George Floyd Square, which is filled with flowers, posters, murals and other tributes to Floyd.&nbsp;

The jury, including three alternates, is made up of six white women, three white men, three Black men, one Black woman and two multiracial women, according to court records.&nbsp;

"I'm thankful that it is a diverse jury," Paris Stevens, a cousin of Floyd, who works as a nurse in North Carolina, said in a telephone interview. "I'm very anxious because you don't know what's going to happen, but I'm just glad that this process is starting."&nbsp;

(With inputs from agencies)&nbsp;

A jury will gather on Monday to hear whether the deadly arrest of George Floyd, which ignited a global protest movement 10 months ago, amounts to murder as opening arguments commence in the trial of former Minneapolis policeman Derek Chauvin.

A jury will gather on Monday to hear whether the deadly arrest of George Floyd, which ignited a global protest movement 10 months ago, amounts to murder as opening arguments commence in the trial of former Minneapolis policeman Derek Chauvin. Over two weeks of jury selection, many jurors told Hennepin County District Judge Peter Cahill and the lawyers on each side that they recognised the scrutiny their deliberations would come under, not least by those who view the trial as a reckoning for how Black people are policed in the United States. "It's been a long time coming," a gospel choir sang on Sunday evening at a prayer service attended by Floyd's relatives. "But I know a change is gonna come." The service was held in a church a few blocks east of where Chauvin, who was white, was caught on a bystander's video, with his knee on the neck of Floyd, a 46-year-old Black man. Philonise Floyd, a brother of George Floyd, said before the service began that he had faith that prosecutors from the Minnesota attorney general's office would see Chauvin convicted. "The video is the proof," he said. Chauvin, 45, has pleaded not guilty to second-degree murder, third-degree murder and second-degree manslaughter, with his lawyers arguing that he followed his training and that the main cause of Floyd's death, which the county examiner ruled a homicide, was a drug overdose. He faces up to 40 years in prison if convicted on the most serious charge. Jurors will head to a courtroom in a tower in downtown Minneapolis ringed with concrete barriers, barbed wire and soldiers from the state's National Guard. For blocks around, businesses are closed and windows boarded up, fearing a repeat of the arson and other property damage that occurred after Floyd's death. Less than three miles away, residents maintain a vigil at the intersection where Chauvin kept his knee on a handcuffed Floyd's neck for about nine minutes as Floyd uses his final breaths to plead for his life. Chauvin and three other officers were arresting Floyd on suspicion of passing a fake $20 bill at the Cup Foods grocery store nearby. Four sets of barricades block police from coming to the intersection, now called George Floyd Square, which is filled with flowers, posters, murals and other tributes to Floyd. The jury, including three alternates, is made up of six white women, three white men, three Black men, one Black woman and two multiracial women, according to court records. "I'm thankful that it is a diverse jury," Paris Stevens, a cousin of Floyd, who works as a nurse in North Carolina, said in a telephone interview. "I'm very anxious because you don't know what's going to happen, but I'm just glad that this process is starting." (With inputs from agencies)

George Floyd's death: Jury to hear opening arguments in Derek Chauvin trial  

The sacred intersection where George Floyd died beneath the knee of a police officer has seen such an increase in violence that food delivery drivers are afraid to venture there. There have been gunbattles, with bloodied shooting victims dragged to ambulances because of barricades keeping the police and emergency vehicles away.

“Having no police: This is the experiment right here,” said P.J. Hill, a leader of Worldwide Outreach for Christ, a church that has been on that corner in Minneapolis for almost 40 years. “This is their one-block experiment.”

Residents all over town still complain of officers using excessive force, like during a recent confrontation in which a white officer appeared to wind up and punch a Black teenager. And officers accuse some community members of antagonizing them, like in a recent dispute over a homeless encampment that erupted into a melee with punches and pepper spray.

Ten months ago, Minneapolis, and the country, seemed to coalesce around the belief that policing needed an overhaul after gruesome video footage surfaced of the last moments of Floyd’s life. Now, with the murder trial of the officer who knelt on Floyd’s neck scheduled to begin Monday, the struggle over what to overhaul and how to do it has left Minneapolis at war with itself over public safety and the role of the police.

A pledge by most City Council members in June to defund and dismantle the Police Department and create a new system of public safety met fierce resistance. It has since given way to a grab bag of efforts that have yet to prove their effectiveness and have left the city fractured.

Looming over everything is a palpable unease over what the 12 jurors will decide in the trial of Derek Chauvin, who is facing second- and third-degree murder charges, as well as manslaughter, after being captured on video kneeling on Floyd’s neck for more than nine minutes in May.

Many worry that an acquittal could set back the work that has been done to reform public safety and to attempt healing, and put the city right back where it was last summer with buildings ablaze and the streets roiling with anger.

“People don’t have much faith that he’s going to be convicted,” said pastor Brian Herron of Zion Baptist Church in the neighborhood Near North, the historic heart of Black Minneapolis. “I think there’s hope that he is, but we have seen this movie before. We’ve watched this movie over and over and over again. We can recite the lines.”

Cities all across America last year faced a surge in violence, fueled in part by the economic despair and alienation brought on by the pandemic, criminologists said. Minneapolis was no exception: It saw a 25% increase in homicides, rapes, robberies and assaults.

But home in on the four neighborhoods surrounding George Floyd Square, the name given to the corner where Floyd died, and the story is far bleaker and deadlier. In those areas — Powderhorn Park, Central, Bryant and Bancroft — violent crime shot up by 66% last year, according to statistics from the Police Department. And this year, so far, little has changed.

The area has become something of an autonomous zone, with barriers and signs calling it “the free state of George Floyd.” Police have stayed away for almost a year to avoid inflaming tensions.

Residents and city leaders have tussled over the role that the Police Department’s depleted ranks have played in the violence plaguing the entire city. Around 200 officers have left the force, some temporarily, over the past year, with many taking leave for post-traumatic stress disorder. The City Charter allows for 888 officers, but there are currently 648 on active duty, city officials said.

Supporters of defunding the police have applauded steps to redirect $8 million from the Police Department’s budget, which now sits at about $170 million. Some of those funds have gone to the Office of Violence Prevention, which has seen its budget grow more than fourfold over the past year to about $7 million.

With that money, the office is expanding programs that offer social services, said Sasha Cotton, its director. The office is also developing a program modeled after Cure Violence, a national violence-intervention initiative. The city’s version will consist of six teams of about 15 people, some former gang members, working in communities to settle any simmering disputes that may lead to violence.

The growth in resources won’t make the work any simpler, Cotton said. That’s because the challenges have grown, too: the surge in violence, the pandemic-induced economic hardship, the unease over the trial.

“We’re under a microscope and at an epicenter that no city wants to be in,” she said. “I think that from these challenges there is real growth happening, and that we will come out of it better on the other side. But it’s sort of like that awkward teenage space that people have to go through.”

Pastor Curtis Farrar, who leads Worldwide Outreach for Christ at George Floyd Square, said gang violence had long been a problem in the area, but it had been improving before Floyd was killed and the police pulled back. Now the sounds of gunshots are a constant, and recently workers he has hired to change his church’s windows have refused to come to the area because they feel it is too dangerous.

In many ways, the future of the intersection could turn on the outcome of the trial. For too long, he said, the community has watched police officers kill and get away with it.

“I don’t know if anybody at this point knows how it’s going to be solved unless they see justice as really being blind,” he said. “If they don’t, we’re going to have some serious problems in this community.”

Many officers worry about further unrest, said Sgt. Sherral Schmidt, president of the Police Officers Federation of Minneapolis. Officers began leaving the department in droves after the uprising last summer, she said, and morale has only gotten worse. With a staffing shortage, officers have found themselves bouncing from call to call, with little opportunity to engage with the community, she said. Even the members of the community engagement team have been reassigned to different jobs to help make up for the patrol shortage, she said.

Officers are expected to have to work 12-hour shifts once the trial reaches closing arguments, Schmidt added.

“The biggest thing for our cops right now is they feel no support,” she said. “So every day, they come in and it’s like, ‘Oh, what are we going to be scrutinized for today?’”

Some longtime civil rights activists have been critical of the police, but they have also criticized the way that supporters of the defund movement have tried to effect change. Nekima Levy Armstrong, a civil rights lawyer, said the defund movement is nothing more than “catchy slogans and catchphrases.” She said that last summer she warned Jeremiah Ellison, a City Council member supporting efforts to dismantle the Police Department, that it would lead to only chaos.

“You’re going to turn Minneapolis into the wild, Wild West,” she recalled telling him.

But Ellison said the uptick in violence in the city began long before any money was redirected from the police, and he credited council members for investing in alternatives to policing.

“To do what we’ve done in 10 months,” he said, “as far as city government is concerned, that’s kind of moving at light speed.”

In June, nine council members, a veto-proof majority, stood on a stage in a park behind large block letters that read “Defund Police” and pledged to dismantle the Police Department.

“They stood on a stage in Powderhorn Park in front of the entire nation with a big sign, with 1-million-point font saying, ‘defund the police,’” said Jacob Frey, the mayor of Minneapolis, calling it an ill-conceived move. He could not support that position, he added, because he did not agree with it and “it wasn’t going to be delivered.”

Many of those members have since backtracked. They proposed a measure last year to change the City Charter to create a Public Safety Department — of which the police would be just one part — that they say would promote a more holistic approach to public safety. That effort has failed, but a new proposal is on track to appear on the ballot this fall. Activists are also gathering signatures to get a measure on the ballot that would perform a similar action.

Though he has disagreed with most council members, Frey has acknowledged the urgency to do something.

“There’s clearly a lot of passion and pain and frustration,” he said.

He has favored working with the police chief, Medaria Arradondo, to establish policy reforms — many of which his critics have said are too incremental.

A number of new policies on the use of force has been put into effect, including requiring officers to intervene when a fellow officer is using impermissible force and requiring greater scrutiny when force is used against someone in handcuffs.

For many residents, though, the policy changes have done nothing to upend what they see as an underlying culture of aggression and disrespect. D.A. Bullock, an activist and a filmmaker who lives in North Minneapolis, recalled recently going to a scene where the police had just shot someone and having officers aggressively tell him to get back.

“I’ve seen a number of interactions between police and residents since George Floyd was murdered, and I can’t, from a practical standpoint, I can’t identify anything that they’re doing differently,” Bullock said. “They still roll up, and they roll up in force. They’re still very much aggressive. I haven’t seen any deescalation tactics.”

Still, if the city feels tense over the continued debate about policing and public safety, there are small signs of racial healing.

One of them is on display every Sunday at Herron’s church, which is predominantly Black. More white faces have been appearing in the pews, he said. It gives Herron hope that even as the city feels these days as if it is under siege — with National Guard troops on the streets, and concrete-and-wire barricades fortifying government buildings downtown — some people, at least, are trying to come together.

“If you look physically, it doesn’t look like much has changed,” he said. “But if you look with spiritual eyes, you see a conversation. You see a movement toward each other, instead of away from each other.”

He continued, “It’s being done organically. We’re not on purpose trying to be a multicultural church. It’s what’s in the atmosphere now.”

The sacred intersection where George Floyd died beneath the knee of a police officer has seen such an increase in violence that food delivery drivers are afraid to venture there.

The sacred intersection where George Floyd died beneath the knee of a police officer has seen such an increase in violence that food delivery drivers are afraid to venture there. There have been gunbattles, with bloodied shooting victims dragged to ambulances because of barricades keeping the police and emergency vehicles away. “Having no police: This is the experiment right here,” said P.J. Hill, a leader of Worldwide Outreach for Christ, a church that has been on that corner in Minneapolis for almost 40 years. “This is their one-block experiment.” Residents all over town still complain of officers using excessive force, like during a recent confrontation in which a white officer appeared to wind up and punch a Black teenager. And officers accuse some community members of antagonizing them, like in a recent dispute over a homeless encampment that erupted into a melee with punches and pepper spray. Ten months ago, Minneapolis, and the country, seemed to coalesce around the belief that policing needed an overhaul after gruesome video footage surfaced of the last moments of Floyd’s life. Now, with the murder trial of the officer who knelt on Floyd’s neck scheduled to begin Monday, the struggle over what to overhaul and how to do it has left Minneapolis at war with itself over public safety and the role of the police. A pledge by most City Council members in June to defund and dismantle the Police Department and create a new system of public safety met fierce resistance. It has since given way to a grab bag of efforts that have yet to prove their effectiveness and have left the city fractured. Looming over everything is a palpable unease over what the 12 jurors will decide in the trial of Derek Chauvin, who is facing second- and third-degree murder charges, as well as manslaughter, after being captured on video kneeling on Floyd’s neck for more than nine minutes in May. Many worry that an acquittal could set back the work that has been done to reform public safety and to attempt healing, and put the city right back where it was last summer with buildings ablaze and the streets roiling with anger. “People don’t have much faith that he’s going to be convicted,” said pastor Brian Herron of Zion Baptist Church in the neighborhood Near North, the historic heart of Black Minneapolis. “I think there’s hope that he is, but we have seen this movie before. We’ve watched this movie over and over and over again. We can recite the lines.” Cities all across America last year faced a surge in violence, fueled in part by the economic despair and alienation brought on by the pandemic, criminologists said. Minneapolis was no exception: It saw a 25% increase in homicides, rapes, robberies and assaults. But home in on the four neighborhoods surrounding George Floyd Square, the name given to the corner where Floyd died, and the story is far bleaker and deadlier. In those areas — Powderhorn Park, Central, Bryant and Bancroft — violent crime shot up by 66% last year, according to statistics from the Police Department. And this year, so far, little has changed. The area has become something of an autonomous zone, with barriers and signs calling it “the free state of George Floyd.” Police have stayed away for almost a year to avoid inflaming tensions. Residents and city leaders have tussled over the role that the Police Department’s depleted ranks have played in the violence plaguing the entire city. Around 200 officers have left the force, some temporarily, over the past year, with many taking leave for post-traumatic stress disorder. The City Charter allows for 888 officers, but there are currently 648 on active duty, city officials said. Supporters of defunding the police have applauded steps to redirect $8 million from the Police Department’s budget, which now sits at about $170 million. Some of those funds have gone to the Office of Violence Prevention, which has seen its budget grow more than fourfold over the past year to about $7 million. With that money, the office is expanding programs that offer social services, said Sasha Cotton, its director. The office is also developing a program modeled after Cure Violence, a national violence-intervention initiative. The city’s version will consist of six teams of about 15 people, some former gang members, working in communities to settle any simmering disputes that may lead to violence. The growth in resources won’t make the work any simpler, Cotton said. That’s because the challenges have grown, too: the surge in violence, the pandemic-induced economic hardship, the unease over the trial. “We’re under a microscope and at an epicenter that no city wants to be in,” she said. “I think that from these challenges there is real growth happening, and that we will come out of it better on the other side. But it’s sort of like that awkward teenage space that people have to go through.” Pastor Curtis Farrar, who leads Worldwide Outreach for Christ at George Floyd Square, said gang violence had long been a problem in the area, but it had been improving before Floyd was killed and the police pulled back. Now the sounds of gunshots are a constant, and recently workers he has hired to change his church’s windows have refused to come to the area because they feel it is too dangerous. In many ways, the future of the intersection could turn on the outcome of the trial. For too long, he said, the community has watched police officers kill and get away with it. “I don’t know if anybody at this point knows how it’s going to be solved unless they see justice as really being blind,” he said. “If they don’t, we’re going to have some serious problems in this community.” Many officers worry about further unrest, said Sgt. Sherral Schmidt, president of the Police Officers Federation of Minneapolis. Officers began leaving the department in droves after the uprising last summer, she said, and morale has only gotten worse. With a staffing shortage, officers have found themselves bouncing from call to call, with little opportunity to engage with the community, she said. Even the members of the community engagement team have been reassigned to different jobs to help make up for the patrol shortage, she said. Officers are expected to have to work 12-hour shifts once the trial reaches closing arguments, Schmidt added. “The biggest thing for our cops right now is they feel no support,” she said. “So every day, they come in and it’s like, ‘Oh, what are we going to be scrutinized for today?’” Some longtime civil rights activists have been critical of the police, but they have also criticized the way that supporters of the defund movement have tried to effect change. Nekima Levy Armstrong, a civil rights lawyer, said the defund movement is nothing more than “catchy slogans and catchphrases.” She said that last summer she warned Jeremiah Ellison, a City Council member supporting efforts to dismantle the Police Department, that it would lead to only chaos. “You’re going to turn Minneapolis into the wild, Wild West,” she recalled telling him. But Ellison said the uptick in violence in the city began long before any money was redirected from the police, and he credited council members for investing in alternatives to policing. “To do what we’ve done in 10 months,” he said, “as far as city government is concerned, that’s kind of moving at light speed.” In June, nine council members, a veto-proof majority, stood on a stage in a park behind large block letters that read “Defund Police” and pledged to dismantle the Police Department. “They stood on a stage in Powderhorn Park in front of the entire nation with a big sign, with 1-million-point font saying, ‘defund the police,’” said Jacob Frey, the mayor of Minneapolis, calling it an ill-conceived move. He could not support that position, he added, because he did not agree with it and “it wasn’t going to be delivered.” Many of those members have since backtracked. They proposed a measure last year to change the City Charter to create a Public Safety Department — of which the police would be just one part — that they say would promote a more holistic approach to public safety. That effort has failed, but a new proposal is on track to appear on the ballot this fall. Activists are also gathering signatures to get a measure on the ballot that would perform a similar action. Though he has disagreed with most council members, Frey has acknowledged the urgency to do something. “There’s clearly a lot of passion and pain and frustration,” he said. He has favored working with the police chief, Medaria Arradondo, to establish policy reforms — many of which his critics have said are too incremental. A number of new policies on the use of force has been put into effect, including requiring officers to intervene when a fellow officer is using impermissible force and requiring greater scrutiny when force is used against someone in handcuffs. For many residents, though, the policy changes have done nothing to upend what they see as an underlying culture of aggression and disrespect. D.A. Bullock, an activist and a filmmaker who lives in North Minneapolis, recalled recently going to a scene where the police had just shot someone and having officers aggressively tell him to get back. “I’ve seen a number of interactions between police and residents since George Floyd was murdered, and I can’t, from a practical standpoint, I can’t identify anything that they’re doing differently,” Bullock said. “They still roll up, and they roll up in force. They’re still very much aggressive. I haven’t seen any deescalation tactics.” Still, if the city feels tense over the continued debate about policing and public safety, there are small signs of racial healing. One of them is on display every Sunday at Herron’s church, which is predominantly Black. More white faces have been appearing in the pews, he said. It gives Herron hope that even as the city feels these days as if it is under siege — with National Guard troops on the streets, and concrete-and-wire barricades fortifying government buildings downtown — some people, at least, are trying to come together. “If you look physically, it doesn’t look like much has changed,” he said. “But if you look with spiritual eyes, you see a conversation. You see a movement toward each other, instead of away from each other.” He continued, “It’s being done organically. We’re not on purpose trying to be a multicultural church. It’s what’s in the atmosphere now.”

Ten months after Floyd’s death, Minneapolis residents are at war over policing

Opening arguments begin on Monday in the trial of the white police officer accused of killing George Floyd, a Black man whose death was captured on video and touched off protests against racial injustice across the United States and around the world.

Derek Chauvin, a 19-year veteran of the Minneapolis Police Department, faces murder and manslaughter charges for his role in the May 25, 2020 death of the 46-year-old Floyd.

Chauvin, 44, who was fired from the police force along with three other officers, could be sentenced to up to 40 years in prison if convicted of the most serious charge -- second-degree murder.

Opening arguments are to begin at 9:00 am Central time (1400 GMT) in a heavily guarded Minneapolis courtroom for a trial expected to last about a month.

Fifteen jurors have been selected for the high-profile case.

Hennepin County Judge Peter Cahill is expected to drop one juror on Monday and proceed with 12 and two alternates.

The panel seated after two weeks of jury selection is racially mixed: six white women, three Black men, three white men, two mixed race women and one Black woman.

Police officers are rarely convicted in the United States when charges are brought against them and the trial is being closely watched around the world.

A conviction on any of the charges -- second-degree murder, third-degree murder or manslaughter -- will require the jury to return a unanimous verdict.

Floyd's cause of death is expected to be the central issue in the trial and a key piece of evidence is likely to be the viral video that triggered a summer of anti-racism protests.

Chauvin was seen on the bystander video kneeling on Floyd's neck for nearly nine minutes while arresting him for allegedly passing a counterfeit $20 bill.

While lying with his face in the street, the handcuffed Floyd complains that he cannot breathe and calls out for his mother.

Chauvin's attorney, Eric Nelson, is expected to argue that the officer was following police procedure and claim that Floyd death's was due to an overdose of the drug fentanyl and underlying health conditions.

- 'Just verdict' -

The public has been banned from attending the trial because of the Covid-19 pandemic but it is being livestreamed.

The identities of the jurors will not be revealed until after the trial but some details are known.

They range in age from their 20s to their 60s and include a chemist, a social worker, an accountant and a nurse. Two are immigrants to the United States.

One is a grandmother, one is recently married and one is a single mother of two teenage boys.

The jury selection process was complicated by the intensive pre-trial publicity surrounding the case and all but one of the jurors said they had seen at least some of the arrest video.

Several potential jurors were excused after telling the judge they could not be fair or impartial or presume Chauvin to be innocent as the law requires them to do.

Others expressed concern for their safety.

Nelson, Chauvin's attorney, asked to have the trial delayed and moved out of Minneapolis because of the March 12 announcement that the city had reached a $27 million "wrongful death" settlement with the Floyd family.

Judge Cahill rejected the demand, saying: "I don't think that there's any place in the state of Minnesota that has not been subjected to extreme amounts of publicity on this case."

Three other former police officers -- Tou Thao, Thomas Lane, and J. Alexander Kueng -- also face charges in connection with Floyd's death.

They are to be tried separately later in the year.

Ben Crump, a lawyer for the Floyd family, said he hoped the jury would deliver a "just verdict."&nbsp;

"George Floyd had more witnesses to his death than any other person ever -- white or Black," Crump said. "We all saw the same thing -- the indisputable and unjustified torture and murder by a police officer of a Black man who was handcuffed, restrained and posed no harm."

Opening arguments begin on Monday in the trial of the white police officer accused of killing George Floyd, a Black man whose death was captured on video and touched off protests against racial injustice across the United States and around the world.

Opening arguments begin on Monday in the trial of the white police officer accused of killing George Floyd, a Black man whose death was captured on video and touched off protests against racial injustice across the United States and around the world. Derek Chauvin, a 19-year veteran of the Minneapolis Police Department, faces murder and manslaughter charges for his role in the May 25, 2020 death of the 46-year-old Floyd. Chauvin, 44, who was fired from the police force along with three other officers, could be sentenced to up to 40 years in prison if convicted of the most serious charge -- second-degree murder. Opening arguments are to begin at 9:00 am Central time (1400 GMT) in a heavily guarded Minneapolis courtroom for a trial expected to last about a month. Fifteen jurors have been selected for the high-profile case. Hennepin County Judge Peter Cahill is expected to drop one juror on Monday and proceed with 12 and two alternates. The panel seated after two weeks of jury selection is racially mixed: six white women, three Black men, three white men, two mixed race women and one Black woman. Police officers are rarely convicted in the United States when charges are brought against them and the trial is being closely watched around the world. A conviction on any of the charges -- second-degree murder, third-degree murder or manslaughter -- will require the jury to return a unanimous verdict. Floyd's cause of death is expected to be the central issue in the trial and a key piece of evidence is likely to be the viral video that triggered a summer of anti-racism protests. Chauvin was seen on the bystander video kneeling on Floyd's neck for nearly nine minutes while arresting him for allegedly passing a counterfeit $20 bill. While lying with his face in the street, the handcuffed Floyd complains that he cannot breathe and calls out for his mother. Chauvin's attorney, Eric Nelson, is expected to argue that the officer was following police procedure and claim that Floyd death's was due to an overdose of the drug fentanyl and underlying health conditions. - 'Just verdict' - The public has been banned from attending the trial because of the Covid-19 pandemic but it is being livestreamed. The identities of the jurors will not be revealed until after the trial but some details are known. They range in age from their 20s to their 60s and include a chemist, a social worker, an accountant and a nurse. Two are immigrants to the United States. One is a grandmother, one is recently married and one is a single mother of two teenage boys. The jury selection process was complicated by the intensive pre-trial publicity surrounding the case and all but one of the jurors said they had seen at least some of the arrest video. Several potential jurors were excused after telling the judge they could not be fair or impartial or presume Chauvin to be innocent as the law requires them to do. Others expressed concern for their safety. Nelson, Chauvin's attorney, asked to have the trial delayed and moved out of Minneapolis because of the March 12 announcement that the city had reached a $27 million "wrongful death" settlement with the Floyd family. Judge Cahill rejected the demand, saying: "I don't think that there's any place in the state of Minnesota that has not been subjected to extreme amounts of publicity on this case." Three other former police officers -- Tou Thao, Thomas Lane, and J. Alexander Kueng -- also face charges in connection with Floyd's death. They are to be tried separately later in the year. Ben Crump, a lawyer for the Floyd family, said he hoped the jury would deliver a "just verdict." "George Floyd had more witnesses to his death than any other person ever -- white or Black," Crump said. "We all saw the same thing -- the indisputable and unjustified torture and murder by a police officer of a Black man who was handcuffed, restrained and posed no harm."

Opening arguments set to begin in George Floyd murder trial

Charlie Hebdo, the satirical magazine from France has sparked outrage yet again after showing England’s Queen Elizabeth kneeling on Meghan Markle’s neck.&nbsp;

The depiction is eerily similar to what happened to George Floyd, a Black man who died after Derek Chauvin, a police officer knelt on his neck. His last words, “I can’t breathe” have become synonymous with the Black Lives Matter movement which erupted over the last year. 
 
Recently, the Duchess of Sussex and her husband Prince Harry told Oprah Winfrey that she was subjected to racism within the royal family. Markle also said that she was denied permission to leave Kensington Palace and that she left only twice in four months, which made her suicidal.

<div class="ui-state-default" contenteditable="false">
<div class="twitter-block" draggable="false">
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
Pourquoi Meghan a quitté Buckingham ? 
 
Retrouvez : 
 
👉 Reportage : l'écologie sonore à l'écoute des animaux 
👉 Enquête sur la véritable histoire du poison chlordécone 
👉 Comment Erdogan traque ses opposants jusqu'en France 
 
En vente demain ! <a href="https://t.co/X7hJHKHPDx">pic.twitter.com/X7hJHKHPDx</a>
— Charlie Hebdo (@Charlie_Hebdo_) <a href="https://twitter.com/Charlie_Hebdo_/status/1369332151708172296?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">March 9, 2021</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script></div>
<a class="close-mark close-div" href="#" id="jqclosemark">×</a></div>

The cartoon was published on Saturday and is titled “Why Meghan quit”. In the cartoon, Markle is shown as saying - “I couldn’t breathe any more”.

Also read:&nbsp;<a href="http://13.235.153.162/entertainment/lifestyle/news-meghan-markle-complains-about-tv-host-piers-morgan-to-uk-regulator-370121" hreflang="en">Meghan Markle complains about TV host Piers Morgan to UK regulator</a>

The depiction has drawn fire from people across the globe. Many have accused the satirical of downplaying not only the struggles of Meghan Markle but of vilifying the movement against systemic racism in the US, spurred largely in the aftermath of Floyd’s death.

Prince William, the big brother of Prince Harry recently broke his silence on the accusations of racism. “We’re very much not a racist family”, the Prince said. The Queen, too, wasn’t spared in the cartoon. She was depicted as having red eyes, and hairy legs - a representation that has angered many Royal loyalists.

Also read:&nbsp;<a href="http://13.235.153.162/world/charlie-hebdo-key-accused-in-2015-paris-terror-attacks-trial-jailed-for-30-years-350284" hreflang="en">Charlie Hebdo: Key accused in 2015 Paris terror attacks trial jailed for 30 years</a>

Charlie Hebdo has been at the centre of debates surrounding freedom of speech and secularism in France, after two brothers attacked the magazine’s headquarters for controversial caricatures of Prophet Muhammad. The attack killed 11 people in 2015, including top editor and some of its leading cartoonists.&nbsp;

Charlie Hebdo, the satirical magazine from France has sparked outrage yet again after showing England’s Queen Elizabeth kneeling on Meghan Markle’s neck. The depiction is eerily similar to what happened to George Floyd, a Black man who died after Derek Chauvin, a police officer knelt on his neck.

Charlie Hebdo, the satirical magazine from France has sparked outrage yet again after showing England’s Queen Elizabeth kneeling on Meghan Markle’s neck. The depiction is eerily similar to what happened to George Floyd, a Black man who died after Derek Chauvin, a police officer knelt on his neck. His last words, “I can’t breathe” have become synonymous with the Black Lives Matter movement which erupted over the last year. Recently, the Duchess of Sussex and her husband Prince Harry told Oprah Winfrey that she was subjected to racism within the royal family. Markle also said that she was denied permission to leave Kensington Palace and that she left only twice in four months, which made her suicidal. Pourquoi Meghan a quitté Buckingham ? Retrouvez : 👉 Reportage : l'écologie sonore à l'écoute des animaux 👉 Enquête sur la véritable histoire du poison chlordécone 👉 Comment Erdogan traque ses opposants jusqu'en France En vente demain ! pic.twitter.com/X7hJHKHPDx — Charlie Hebdo (@Charlie_Hebdo_) March 9, 2021 × The cartoon was published on Saturday and is titled “Why Meghan quit”. In the cartoon, Markle is shown as saying - “I couldn’t breathe any more”. Also read: Meghan Markle complains about TV host Piers Morgan to UK regulator The depiction has drawn fire from people across the globe. Many have accused the satirical of downplaying not only the struggles of Meghan Markle but of vilifying the movement against systemic racism in the US, spurred largely in the aftermath of Floyd’s death. Prince William, the big brother of Prince Harry recently broke his silence on the accusations of racism. “We’re very much not a racist family”, the Prince said. The Queen, too, wasn’t spared in the cartoon. She was depicted as having red eyes, and hairy legs - a representation that has angered many Royal loyalists. Also read: Charlie Hebdo: Key accused in 2015 Paris terror attacks trial jailed for 30 years Charlie Hebdo has been at the centre of debates surrounding freedom of speech and secularism in France, after two brothers attacked the magazine’s headquarters for controversial caricatures of Prophet Muhammad. The attack killed 11 people in 2015, including top editor and some of its leading cartoonists.

Charlie Hebdo stokes controversy by depicting Meghan Markle as George Floyd

The city of Minneapolis on Friday (March 12) agreed to pay $27 million to settle a lawsuit by the family of George Floyd over his death in police custody, a case that stirred national protests over racial injustice and police brutality.

Minneapolis to pay $27 mln to settle George Floyd's family civil lawsuit over deadly arrest

The US city of Minneapolis is set to pay $27 million to the family of George Floyd to settle a lawsuit over his death.

The case of Floyd, who died in police custody caused national uproar over racism and police brutality. Floyd was a 45-year-old Black man, who died in May at the hands of Derek Chauvin, a White Minneapolis officer. Floyd’s last moments were captured on tape by bystanders, which sparked one of the largest protest movements in the history of United States. 
&nbsp;

<div class="videoWrapper trancodeVideo"><iframe allowfullscreen="" autoplay="1" class="includeVideo" frameborder="0" height="350" src="https://www.wionews.com/videos/george-floyd-death-judge-allows-third-degree-murder-charge-against-derek-369881/embed" style="width:100%;max-width:560px;" width="560"></iframe></div>

Chauvin kneeled on Floyd’s neck even when he kept saying “I can’t breathe”. Ultimately, Floyd passed away. The agreement will the largest pre-trial settlement of wrongful death in US history. 
 
According to Benjamin Crump, an attorney for Floyd family, the settlement signifies how the death of a Black person, at the hands of the police “will no longer be written off as trivial, unimportant, or unworthy of consequences”.

Also read:&nbsp;<a href="http://13.235.153.162/world/lapd-severely-mishandled-george-floyd-protests-report-finds-370017" hreflang="en">LAPD severely mishandled George Floyd protests, report finds</a>

In the video that went viral after Floyd’s death, the officer was seen kneeling on the man for almost nine minutes, even when he was repeatedly telling the officer about his inability to breathe. It was only when the ambulance arrived that the officer retracted his knee from the neck. An hour later, Floyd was dead.

A few days earlier, The US House of Representatives has passed a bill that bans controversial police tactics and eases the way for lawsuits against officers violating suspects' constitutional rights.

Democrats pushed the "George Floyd Justice in Policing Act" through the House by a vote of 220-212, with the support of only one Republican.&nbsp;

Also read:&nbsp;<a href="http://13.235.153.162/world/george-floyd-murder-trial-publicity-surrounding-case-a-challenge-for-jury-selection-369714" hreflang="en">George Floyd murder trial: Publicity surrounding case a challenge for jury selection</a>

The said bill includes measures such as restricting certain funds to local governments that allow law enforcement officers to use choke holds, banning "no-knock warrants" that allow police officers to enter premises without announcing themselves and requiring law enforcement agencies to provide data on instances when police officers used deadly force. 
 
The bill would hold police "accountable" when constitutional rights are violated but would also support local law enforcement by fostering improvements in community policing, especially for minority neighbourhoods. 
Also, one of its most controversial provisions would change "qualified immunity" for police, further opening the door for lawsuits over the use of excessive force.

The US city of Minneapolis is set to pay $27 million to the family of George Floyd to settle a lawsuit over his death. The case of Floyd, who died in police custody caused national uproar over racism and police brutality.

The US city of Minneapolis is set to pay $27 million to the family of George Floyd to settle a lawsuit over his death. The case of Floyd, who died in police custody caused national uproar over racism and police brutality. Floyd was a 45-year-old Black man, who died in May at the hands of Derek Chauvin, a White Minneapolis officer. Floyd’s last moments were captured on tape by bystanders, which sparked one of the largest protest movements in the history of United States. Chauvin kneeled on Floyd’s neck even when he kept saying “I can’t breathe”. Ultimately, Floyd passed away. The agreement will the largest pre-trial settlement of wrongful death in US history. According to Benjamin Crump, an attorney for Floyd family, the settlement signifies how the death of a Black person, at the hands of the police “will no longer be written off as trivial, unimportant, or unworthy of consequences”. Also read: LAPD severely mishandled George Floyd protests, report finds In the video that went viral after Floyd’s death, the officer was seen kneeling on the man for almost nine minutes, even when he was repeatedly telling the officer about his inability to breathe. It was only when the ambulance arrived that the officer retracted his knee from the neck. An hour later, Floyd was dead. A few days earlier, The US House of Representatives has passed a bill that bans controversial police tactics and eases the way for lawsuits against officers violating suspects' constitutional rights. Democrats pushed the "George Floyd Justice in Policing Act" through the House by a vote of 220-212, with the support of only one Republican. Also read: George Floyd murder trial: Publicity surrounding case a challenge for jury selection The said bill includes measures such as restricting certain funds to local governments that allow law enforcement officers to use choke holds, banning "no-knock warrants" that allow police officers to enter premises without announcing themselves and requiring law enforcement agencies to provide data on instances when police officers used deadly force. The bill would hold police "accountable" when constitutional rights are violated but would also support local law enforcement by fostering improvements in community policing, especially for minority neighbourhoods. Also, one of its most controversial provisions would change "qualified immunity" for police, further opening the door for lawsuits over the use of excessive force.

George Floyd's family receives $27 million settlement from Minneapolis over wrongful death

The Los Angeles Police Department severely mishandled protests last summer in the wake of George Floyd’s death, illegally detaining protesters, issuing conflicting orders to its rank-and-file officers and striking people who had committed no crimes with rubber bullets, beanbags and batons, according to a scathing report released Thursday.

An ill-prepared department quickly allowed the situation to spiral out of control when some protesters got violent, failing to rein in much of the most destructive behavior while arresting thousands of protesters for minor offenses, according to the 101-page report commissioned by the City Council.

The report was also highly critical of the department’s leadership, saying that high-ranking officers sometimes made chaotic scenes even worse by shifting strategies without communicating clearly. In many cases, officers used “antiquated tactics” that failed to calm the more violent demonstrators, some of whom the report said deliberately threw things at officers from behind a line of peaceful protesters.

The review is the latest to find serious fault with a police department’s response to the wave of protests that swept the country in the wake of Floyd’s death in Minneapolis on May 25.

From New York to Chicago to Dallas, investigations in the past several months have found that police departments nationwide botched their handling of the protests. In city after city, officers, under faulty supervision, ignored protocols and used excessive force on demonstrators. Mass arrests swept up people who were not breaking any laws. And aggressive responses caused gatherings to quickly descend into chaos.

In New York, one highly critical report last year found that the Police Department, the nation’s largest force, badly mishandled the mass demonstrations, in part by sending untrained officers into marches.

“The response really was a failure on many levels,” Margaret Garnett, the commissioner for the New York City Department of Investigation, said at the time.

In Chicago, an inspector general’s report found that officers had failed to wear body cameras as required and underreported how many times they used their batons to strike protesters. Dallas police officers were found to have fired pepper balls at peaceful marchers. And in Philadelphia, a report commissioned by the mayor condemned an unprepared police response in which officers fueled unrest in some predominantly Black areas with excessive force against demonstrators, while allowing white men armed with bats and pipes to confront protesters in other parts of town.

In Los Angeles, undercover officers blended into the protests but then had no way to report criminal behavior directly to supervisors. Sometimes they had to be rescued from the devolving crowd, the report said, adding that the department’s intelligence operations have become less effective as positions in that field were cut in favor of patrol units.

And although officers arrested thousands of people during the protests in late May, there was no clear plan for how to detain and process them, according to the report. Some protesters were injured so severely by “less lethal” munitions — like rubber bullets and pepper balls — that they had to have surgery.

The Los Angeles Police Department said in a statement that its chief, Michel Moore, had “taken responsibility for activities over the summer,” and that the department had provided crowd control training to its officers after the summer unrest.

“The opportunity to learn from our mistakes, to grow, and become better servants to our community is something that has been embraced and we look forward to leaning into the challenges and being better,” the statement said.

RJ Dawson, who took part in the protests in Los Angeles as part of an activist group, said he had little hope that the report would lead to significant changes.

“I find that these reports tell us what we already know,” he said. “When you’re out here, you see the civil rights violations.”

The review, one of three investigations into the department’s response to the demonstrations, was completed by a panel of former police commanders and led by Gerald Chaleff, who has served on police oversight panels in Los Angeles dating back to the city’s 1992 riots after four officers were acquitted in the beating of Rodney King.

“There was a lack of preparation, a lack of planning,” Chaleff said of the Los Angeles Police Department in an interview, adding that it “could have minimized” the destruction caused by a small group of people who vandalized the city during last year’s protests.

He said that most demonstrators were peaceful, but that “there were some people there to create chaos and cause problems.”

In interviews, several commanders admitted to the authors of the report that they lacked experience in managing peaceful protests and said they did not receive enough training to maintain order.

Training in crowd control, which became mandatory after the police responded violently in 2007 to demonstrations over immigrant rights, had not occurred for several years leading up to 2020, according to the report. There are “still a few high-level personnel” with expertise in handling large demonstrations, but the report said the Police Department should prioritize the training going forward, as officers retire and are assigned elsewhere.

Officers interviewed for the report said they thought that “good relationships” with residents would keep the demonstrations peaceful, as they had in the recent past, but that their confidence resulted in them failing to plan.

The department formed lines of officers standing shoulder to shoulder to block off a street or keep the protesters from going a certain way. But this technique proved ineffective. As violence erupted, the lines did nothing to help control the crowd.

Across the country, reports have consistently shown similar failures.

In New York, more than 2,000 people were arrested during the city’s first week of demonstrations and enforcement during the height of the protests was overly aggressive and disproportionately affected people of color, according to the highly critical report, which was issued by the state’s attorney general, Letitia James. Her office received more than 1,300 complaints of police misconduct stemming from those first weeks of protest in New York City, she said.

In Portland, Oregon, Justice Department lawyers wrote last month that the city’s police department was out of compliance with a 2014 settlement agreement that focused in part on how officers used force. The Justice Department wrote in court that during protests last year, the Portland Police Bureau used force more than 6,000 times in six months, at times deviating from policy.

In Seattle, the city’s Office of Inspector General has been working on a review of last year’s protests, saying there were more than 120 separate protest events and more than 19,000 complaints about how they were handled.

In Chicago, the city’s inspector general report found that the Police Department’s senior leadership had failed the public and rank-and-file officers in its handling of intense protests. As in Los Angeles, the department failed to properly process mass arrests, the report said, overcharging some people and undercharging others. Officers obscured their badge numbers and name plates, and many did not wear body cameras, making it difficult to hold officers accountable for misconduct.

All this happened as the public’s own footage of questionable tactics by Chicago officers circulated widely, the report said. The city and the Police Department, the report said, may have been set “back significantly in their long-running, deeply challenged effort to foster trust with members of the community.”

The Dallas Police Department also came under close scrutiny for how it handled protests. A Dallas Morning News report found that the police had improperly fired pepper balls at protesters. A federal judge had issued a temporary restraining order preventing officers from using chemical agents, flash-bang grenades and other less-lethal weapons against protesters. The police chief at the time ended up resigning, though she said it was for reasons other than the criticism of the protest response.

Chaleff, who once served as the Los Angeles Police Department’s special assistant for constitutional policing under former Chief William J. Bratton, who later led the New York Police Department, noted that Thursday’s report was primarily concerned with the institutional response, not with any particular incident of police misconduct, a sign that the police had “allowed less violence” than in the past.

“I think there’s been progress,” he said. “But you have to be prepared for what’s coming, and you have to have the elected and appointed leadership that understands what is required and creates a culture for the kinds of responses that are necessary.”

The Los Angeles Police Department severely mishandled protests last summer in the wake of George Floyd’s death, illegally detaining protesters, issuing conflicting orders to its rank-and-file officers and striking people who had committed no crimes with rubber bullets, beanbags and batons, according to a scathing report released Thursday.

The Los Angeles Police Department severely mishandled protests last summer in the wake of George Floyd’s death, illegally detaining protesters, issuing conflicting orders to its rank-and-file officers and striking people who had committed no crimes with rubber bullets, beanbags and batons, according to a scathing report released Thursday. An ill-prepared department quickly allowed the situation to spiral out of control when some protesters got violent, failing to rein in much of the most destructive behavior while arresting thousands of protesters for minor offenses, according to the 101-page report commissioned by the City Council. The report was also highly critical of the department’s leadership, saying that high-ranking officers sometimes made chaotic scenes even worse by shifting strategies without communicating clearly. In many cases, officers used “antiquated tactics” that failed to calm the more violent demonstrators, some of whom the report said deliberately threw things at officers from behind a line of peaceful protesters. The review is the latest to find serious fault with a police department’s response to the wave of protests that swept the country in the wake of Floyd’s death in Minneapolis on May 25. From New York to Chicago to Dallas, investigations in the past several months have found that police departments nationwide botched their handling of the protests. In city after city, officers, under faulty supervision, ignored protocols and used excessive force on demonstrators. Mass arrests swept up people who were not breaking any laws. And aggressive responses caused gatherings to quickly descend into chaos. In New York, one highly critical report last year found that the Police Department, the nation’s largest force, badly mishandled the mass demonstrations, in part by sending untrained officers into marches. “The response really was a failure on many levels,” Margaret Garnett, the commissioner for the New York City Department of Investigation, said at the time. In Chicago, an inspector general’s report found that officers had failed to wear body cameras as required and underreported how many times they used their batons to strike protesters. Dallas police officers were found to have fired pepper balls at peaceful marchers. And in Philadelphia, a report commissioned by the mayor condemned an unprepared police response in which officers fueled unrest in some predominantly Black areas with excessive force against demonstrators, while allowing white men armed with bats and pipes to confront protesters in other parts of town. In Los Angeles, undercover officers blended into the protests but then had no way to report criminal behavior directly to supervisors. Sometimes they had to be rescued from the devolving crowd, the report said, adding that the department’s intelligence operations have become less effective as positions in that field were cut in favor of patrol units. And although officers arrested thousands of people during the protests in late May, there was no clear plan for how to detain and process them, according to the report. Some protesters were injured so severely by “less lethal” munitions — like rubber bullets and pepper balls — that they had to have surgery. The Los Angeles Police Department said in a statement that its chief, Michel Moore, had “taken responsibility for activities over the summer,” and that the department had provided crowd control training to its officers after the summer unrest. “The opportunity to learn from our mistakes, to grow, and become better servants to our community is something that has been embraced and we look forward to leaning into the challenges and being better,” the statement said. RJ Dawson, who took part in the protests in Los Angeles as part of an activist group, said he had little hope that the report would lead to significant changes. “I find that these reports tell us what we already know,” he said. “When you’re out here, you see the civil rights violations.” The review, one of three investigations into the department’s response to the demonstrations, was completed by a panel of former police commanders and led by Gerald Chaleff, who has served on police oversight panels in Los Angeles dating back to the city’s 1992 riots after four officers were acquitted in the beating of Rodney King. “There was a lack of preparation, a lack of planning,” Chaleff said of the Los Angeles Police Department in an interview, adding that it “could have minimized” the destruction caused by a small group of people who vandalized the city during last year’s protests. He said that most demonstrators were peaceful, but that “there were some people there to create chaos and cause problems.” In interviews, several commanders admitted to the authors of the report that they lacked experience in managing peaceful protests and said they did not receive enough training to maintain order. Training in crowd control, which became mandatory after the police responded violently in 2007 to demonstrations over immigrant rights, had not occurred for several years leading up to 2020, according to the report. There are “still a few high-level personnel” with expertise in handling large demonstrations, but the report said the Police Department should prioritize the training going forward, as officers retire and are assigned elsewhere. Officers interviewed for the report said they thought that “good relationships” with residents would keep the demonstrations peaceful, as they had in the recent past, but that their confidence resulted in them failing to plan. The department formed lines of officers standing shoulder to shoulder to block off a street or keep the protesters from going a certain way. But this technique proved ineffective. As violence erupted, the lines did nothing to help control the crowd. Across the country, reports have consistently shown similar failures. In New York, more than 2,000 people were arrested during the city’s first week of demonstrations and enforcement during the height of the protests was overly aggressive and disproportionately affected people of color, according to the highly critical report, which was issued by the state’s attorney general, Letitia James. Her office received more than 1,300 complaints of police misconduct stemming from those first weeks of protest in New York City, she said. In Portland, Oregon, Justice Department lawyers wrote last month that the city’s police department was out of compliance with a 2014 settlement agreement that focused in part on how officers used force. The Justice Department wrote in court that during protests last year, the Portland Police Bureau used force more than 6,000 times in six months, at times deviating from policy. In Seattle, the city’s Office of Inspector General has been working on a review of last year’s protests, saying there were more than 120 separate protest events and more than 19,000 complaints about how they were handled. In Chicago, the city’s inspector general report found that the Police Department’s senior leadership had failed the public and rank-and-file officers in its handling of intense protests. As in Los Angeles, the department failed to properly process mass arrests, the report said, overcharging some people and undercharging others. Officers obscured their badge numbers and name plates, and many did not wear body cameras, making it difficult to hold officers accountable for misconduct. All this happened as the public’s own footage of questionable tactics by Chicago officers circulated widely, the report said. The city and the Police Department, the report said, may have been set “back significantly in their long-running, deeply challenged effort to foster trust with members of the community.” The Dallas Police Department also came under close scrutiny for how it handled protests. A Dallas Morning News report found that the police had improperly fired pepper balls at protesters. A federal judge had issued a temporary restraining order preventing officers from using chemical agents, flash-bang grenades and other less-lethal weapons against protesters. The police chief at the time ended up resigning, though she said it was for reasons other than the criticism of the protest response. Chaleff, who once served as the Los Angeles Police Department’s special assistant for constitutional policing under former Chief William J. Bratton, who later led the New York Police Department, noted that Thursday’s report was primarily concerned with the institutional response, not with any particular incident of police misconduct, a sign that the police had “allowed less violence” than in the past. “I think there’s been progress,” he said. “But you have to be prepared for what’s coming, and you have to have the elected and appointed leadership that understands what is required and creates a culture for the kinds of responses that are necessary.”

LAPD severely mishandled George Floyd protests, report finds

The UNSC condemmed the continued violence in Myanmar even as the US&nbsp;Treasury Department announced sanctions against two adult children of Myanmar's junta leader Min Aung Hlaing over the military coup. Meanwhile,&nbsp;in a major victory for US President Joe Biden the US House of Representatives gave final approval to the sweeping $1.9 trillion COVID-19 relief bill&nbsp;

Amid the pandemic, the global nurses' federation has warned of a looming exodus of health workers with at least 3,000 nurses having died due to COVID-19 since the start of the pandemic.

In a startling U-turn, former US President Donald Trump has requested mail-in ballot ahead of local municipal elections in Florida, voting again by mail despite his frequent attacks on voting by mail.

Click on headlines to read more

<a href="https://www.wionews.com/world/it-is-time-for-de-escalation-and-diplomacy-says-china-at-un-on-myanmar-violence-369541">It is time for de-escalation and diplomacy, says China at UN on Myanmar violence</a>

<img alt="Myanmar violence" data-entity-type="file" data-entity-uuid="9d85d022-3c80-420b-86e6-cd7e5a332896" src="//cdn.wionews.com/sites/default/files/inline-images/S1.jpg" />

The&nbsp;United Nations Security Council(UNSC) condemned the&nbsp;<a href="https://www.wionews.com/south-asia/myanmar-security-forces-surround-arrest-protesters-as-us-calls-for-withdrawal-369486">Myanmar</a>&nbsp;military's violent crackdown against peaceful anti-coup demonstrators

<a href="https://www.wionews.com/world/bidens-19-trillion-covid-bill-wins-final-approval-in-house-369543">Biden's $1.9 trillion Covid bill wins final approval in House</a>

<img alt="Joe Biden" data-entity-type="file" data-entity-uuid="650dfcac-aae7-4189-a8ca-397e10a9e504" src="//cdn.wionews.com/sites/default/files/inline-images/Biden11.jpg" />

The US House of Representatives has given final approval to a sweeping $1.9 trillion COVID-19 relief bill&nbsp;

<a href="https://www.wionews.com/world/mass-traumatization-3000-nurses-killed-by-coronavirus-exodus-looming-says-icn-369545">'Mass traumatization': 3,000 nurses killed by coronavirus, exodus looming, says ICN</a>

<img alt="Nurses" data-entity-type="file" data-entity-uuid="995f10f4-cb4c-46c7-af15-2e2f413c65b7" src="//cdn.wionews.com/sites/default/files/inline-images/Nurses1.jpg" />

ICN chief executive Howard Catton said the total number of the global workforce of nurses was 27 million with six million short during the pandemic.

<a href="https://www.wionews.com/world/now-trump-requests-mail-in-ballot-in-florida-369550">Now, Trump requests mail-in ballot in Florida</a>

<img alt="Donald Trump" data-entity-type="file" data-entity-uuid="b5cdaa8e-4e73-48fe-81ec-ffd57163ed36" src="//cdn.wionews.com/sites/default/files/inline-images/Donald1_0.jpg" />

The records from the Palm Beach county supervisor of elections show that a mail-in ballot was mailed to the former president’s permanent residence at&nbsp;Mar-a-Lago.

<a href="https://www.wionews.com/videos/gravitas-imran-khan-stares-at-another-defeat-369539">Watch-&nbsp;Gravitas: Imran Khan stares at another defeat</a>

<div class="videoWrapper trancodeVideo"><iframe allowfullscreen="" autoplay="1" class="includeVideo" frameborder="0" height="350" src="https://www.wionews.com/videos/gravitas-imran-khan-stares-at-another-defeat-369539/embed" style="width:100%;max-width:560px;" width="560"></iframe></div>

The UNSC condemmed the continued violence in Myanmar even as the US Treasury Department announced sanctions against two adult children of Myanmar's junta leader Min Aung Hlaing over the military coup.

The UNSC condemmed the continued violence in Myanmar even as the US Treasury Department announced sanctions against two adult children of Myanmar's junta leader Min Aung Hlaing over the military coup. Meanwhile, in a major victory for US President Joe Biden the US House of Representatives gave final approval to the sweeping $1.9 trillion COVID-19 relief bill Amid the pandemic, the global nurses' federation has warned of a looming exodus of health workers with at least 3,000 nurses having died due to COVID-19 since the start of the pandemic. In a startling U-turn, former US President Donald Trump has requested mail-in ballot ahead of local municipal elections in Florida, voting again by mail despite his frequent attacks on voting by mail. Click on headlines to read more It is time for de-escalation and diplomacy, says China at UN on Myanmar violence The United Nations Security Council(UNSC) condemned the Myanmar military's violent crackdown against peaceful anti-coup demonstrators Biden's $1.9 trillion Covid bill wins final approval in House The US House of Representatives has given final approval to a sweeping $1.9 trillion COVID-19 relief bill 'Mass traumatization': 3,000 nurses killed by coronavirus, exodus looming, says ICN ICN chief executive Howard Catton said the total number of the global workforce of nurses was 27 million with six million short during the pandemic. Now, Trump requests mail-in ballot in Florida The records from the Palm Beach county supervisor of elections show that a mail-in ballot was mailed to the former president’s permanent residence at Mar-a-Lago. Watch- Gravitas: Imran Khan stares at another defeat

Morning news brief: China calls for 'de-escalation' in Myanmar, 3,000 nurses killed by COVID-19 & more

The publicity surrounding the murder trial of&nbsp;George&nbsp;Floyd, an African-American man whose death laid bare racial wounds in the United States and sparked "Black Lives Matter" protests across the globe, is making jury selection a difficult task.

Millions of people have watched the video of&nbsp;George&nbsp;Floyd's death. A dozen will decide the fate of the white policeman seen kneeling for nearly nine minutes on the neck of the 46-year-old Black man.

Judge Peter Cahill of the Hennepin County District Court has set aside three weeks to screen jurors.&nbsp;

Also read:&nbsp;<a href="https://www.wionews.com/world/first-jurors-selected-for-george-floyd-murder-trial-369547">First jurors selected for George Floyd murder trial</a>

Former Minneapolis Police Department officer Derek Chauvin is facing charges of second-degree murder and manslaughter in connection with&nbsp;Floyd's May 25 death, which was captured by bystanders on smartphone video.

He has pleaded not guilty to second-degree murder and manslaughter and stood politely each time his lawyer introduced him to potential jurors in court.

The viral video of&nbsp;Floyd's&nbsp;death sparked a summer of protests against police brutality and racial injustice in the United States and around the world.

<div class="videoWrapper trancodeVideo"><iframe allowfullscreen="" autoplay="1" class="includeVideo" frameborder="0" height="350" src="https://www.wionews.com/videos/sister-of-george-floyd-makes-emotional-plea-for-justice-as-trial-gets-set-to-begin-369193/embed" style="width:100%;max-width:560px;" width="560"></iframe></div>

Citing pre-trial publicity, defence lawyers for Chauvin sought to have the trial moved out of Minneapolis, the Minnesota city where&nbsp;Floyd&nbsp;died, but the motion was denied.

&nbsp;'Juror rejection'

Only one of the prospective jurors so far, a white man in his 20s or 30s, has said they have not seen the video of&nbsp;Floyd's death.

The man, who said he has seen only a still image from the video, was the first person selected for the jury, which will comprise 12 jurors and two alternates.

Each potential juror filled out a 16-page questionnaire before being called in for jury selection.

Among the questions asked were whether they have seen the video of&nbsp;Floyd's death, whether they took part in protests against racial injustice and whether they've had any interactions with police.

They were also asked how they view the "Black Lives Matter" movement and whether they have a favourable or unfavourable view of Chauvin, the accused.

Chauvin's attorney and prosecutors have probed the prospective jurors further during the process called voir dire about their beliefs and knowledge about the case.

"Believe it or not, you're not the only person in the world that may have a negative view of my client," Eric Nelson, Chauvin's lead attorney, said with a smile as he questioned a potential juror who said that he, his wife, his son and daughter had all advocated for police reform.

That man was sent home after Nelson used the fourth of his 15 peremptory challenges, which enable a potential juror to be dismissed without cause.

The prosecutors from the state attorney general's office have used two of their nine challenges, including one against a civil litigation attorney who told prosecutors she thought that law enforcement officers have a "thankless job."

'Black Lives Matter'

Three jurors were seated on Tuesday after saying they could put aside their misgivings about Chauvin: A white man who is a chemist at an environmental testing lab; a woman who appeared to be of mixed race who said she was "super excited" to serve on a jury; and a white man who works as an auditor.

The judge has promised all jurors anonymity for the duration of the trial.

On Wednesday, a sales manager who appeared to be white and said he thought police tended to be more trustworthy witnesses than civilians became the fourth juror to be seated. He also said that he had "strongly favourable" views of the Black Lives Matter movement.

"In my college years, I took a couple of great courses following the Civil Rights movement, and they really just led me on the path of racial injustice throughout our history," he told the court. He said he was an avid sports fan and supported the right of Black football players to protest police brutality by kneeling during the national anthem before games.

Later, a Black man who said he immigrated to the United States 14 years ago to study in Nebraska and now worked in information technology told the court he believed that "all lives matter," but that Black lives matter more because he thought Black people had been marginalized.

He also said he disagreed with calls by some activists to "defund the police," saying that if police are expected to keep communities safe then "they have to have the right to have the funds."

He became the fifth of the 12 jurors and up to four alternates the judge is seeking to seat.

On Friday, the Minnesota Court of Appeals ordered the judge overseeing the trial to reconsider the prosecution's request that Chauvin face an additional charge of third-degree murder.

Chauvin's lawyers asked the Minnesota Supreme Court to review that order, but the court said on Wednesday it would not intervene. Judge Cahill said he would discuss the charge with the attorneys on Thursday before resuming jury selection.

Chauvin's lawyers say he stuck to his police training and did not use excessive force when he was arresting&nbsp;Floyd&nbsp;on May 25 on suspicion of using a counterfeit $20 bill to buy cigarettes.

Chauvin, 44, was released from jail on a $1 million bond in October and is being tried in a courtroom in the Hennepin County Government Center, a tower in downtown Minneapolis now ringed with barbed-wire fencing and concrete barricades.

The publicity surrounding the murder trial of George Floyd, an African-American man whose death laid bare racial wounds in the United States and sparked "Black Lives Matter" protests across the globe, is making jury selection a difficult task.

The publicity surrounding the murder trial of George Floyd, an African-American man whose death laid bare racial wounds in the United States and sparked "Black Lives Matter" protests across the globe, is making jury selection a difficult task. Millions of people have watched the video of George Floyd's death. A dozen will decide the fate of the white policeman seen kneeling for nearly nine minutes on the neck of the 46-year-old Black man. Judge Peter Cahill of the Hennepin County District Court has set aside three weeks to screen jurors. Also read: First jurors selected for George Floyd murder trial Former Minneapolis Police Department officer Derek Chauvin is facing charges of second-degree murder and manslaughter in connection with Floyd's May 25 death, which was captured by bystanders on smartphone video. He has pleaded not guilty to second-degree murder and manslaughter and stood politely each time his lawyer introduced him to potential jurors in court. The viral video of Floyd's death sparked a summer of protests against police brutality and racial injustice in the United States and around the world. Citing pre-trial publicity, defence lawyers for Chauvin sought to have the trial moved out of Minneapolis, the Minnesota city where Floyd died, but the motion was denied. 'Juror rejection' Only one of the prospective jurors so far, a white man in his 20s or 30s, has said they have not seen the video of Floyd's death. The man, who said he has seen only a still image from the video, was the first person selected for the jury, which will comprise 12 jurors and two alternates. Each potential juror filled out a 16-page questionnaire before being called in for jury selection. Among the questions asked were whether they have seen the video of Floyd's death, whether they took part in protests against racial injustice and whether they've had any interactions with police. They were also asked how they view the "Black Lives Matter" movement and whether they have a favourable or unfavourable view of Chauvin, the accused. Chauvin's attorney and prosecutors have probed the prospective jurors further during the process called voir dire about their beliefs and knowledge about the case. "Believe it or not, you're not the only person in the world that may have a negative view of my client," Eric Nelson, Chauvin's lead attorney, said with a smile as he questioned a potential juror who said that he, his wife, his son and daughter had all advocated for police reform. That man was sent home after Nelson used the fourth of his 15 peremptory challenges, which enable a potential juror to be dismissed without cause. The prosecutors from the state attorney general's office have used two of their nine challenges, including one against a civil litigation attorney who told prosecutors she thought that law enforcement officers have a "thankless job." 'Black Lives Matter' Three jurors were seated on Tuesday after saying they could put aside their misgivings about Chauvin: A white man who is a chemist at an environmental testing lab; a woman who appeared to be of mixed race who said she was "super excited" to serve on a jury; and a white man who works as an auditor. The judge has promised all jurors anonymity for the duration of the trial. On Wednesday, a sales manager who appeared to be white and said he thought police tended to be more trustworthy witnesses than civilians became the fourth juror to be seated. He also said that he had "strongly favourable" views of the Black Lives Matter movement. "In my college years, I took a couple of great courses following the Civil Rights movement, and they really just led me on the path of racial injustice throughout our history," he told the court. He said he was an avid sports fan and supported the right of Black football players to protest police brutality by kneeling during the national anthem before games. Later, a Black man who said he immigrated to the United States 14 years ago to study in Nebraska and now worked in information technology told the court he believed that "all lives matter," but that Black lives matter more because he thought Black people had been marginalized. He also said he disagreed with calls by some activists to "defund the police," saying that if police are expected to keep communities safe then "they have to have the right to have the funds." He became the fifth of the 12 jurors and up to four alternates the judge is seeking to seat. On Friday, the Minnesota Court of Appeals ordered the judge overseeing the trial to reconsider the prosecution's request that Chauvin face an additional charge of third-degree murder. Chauvin's lawyers asked the Minnesota Supreme Court to review that order, but the court said on Wednesday it would not intervene. Judge Cahill said he would discuss the charge with the attorneys on Thursday before resuming jury selection. Chauvin's lawyers say he stuck to his police training and did not use excessive force when he was arresting Floyd on May 25 on suspicion of using a counterfeit $20 bill to buy cigarettes. Chauvin, 44, was released from jail on a $1 million bond in October and is being tried in a courtroom in the Hennepin County Government Center, a tower in downtown Minneapolis now ringed with barbed-wire fencing and concrete barricades.

George Floyd murder trial: Publicity surrounding case a challenge for jury selection

The jury selection is underway in the murder trial of Derek Chauvin, a former Minneapolis police officer charged over George Floyd’s death last year. The African American's May 2020 killing drew outrage and a worldwide reckoning on police reform and racial justice. Watch the video for the story so far.

Jury selection underway for George Floyd Murder trial: The story so far

The sister of George Floyd -- the unarmed black man whose death in Minneapolis police custody galvanized the Black Lives Matter movement into a global phenomenon -- made an emotional plea for justice on Monday (March 8) on what was supposed to be the first trial day of the officer accused in his killing.

Sister of George Floyd makes emotional plea for justice as trial gets set to begin

Late last year, a 14-page questionnaire began to arrive in mailboxes across Minneapolis and its suburbs. It asked if the recipient had watched the video of George Floyd dying under a police officer’s knee. What about the protests against police brutality, it wanted to know — did you go? How do you feel about Black Lives Matter?

It asked respondents to list their education level, any martial arts training, even their favorite podcasts. And then there was the essay prompt, followed by a daunting expanse of blank paper: Tell us everything you have heard about the death of Floyd.

The questionnaire went out to potential jurors for the trial of Derek Chauvin, the white former police officer accused of murdering Floyd, who was Black. The case has touched the lives of millions and sparked the largest movement for racial justice in America since the 1960s, but the trial will ultimately decide the guilt or innocence of one man.

Jury selection is set to begin Monday in a courtroom built to comply with pandemic protocols and outfitted with television cameras. Chauvin is charged with second-degree murder and second-degree manslaughter. Before his trial begins, he could face an additional charge of third-degree murder, the Minnesota Court of Appeals ruled Friday, in a decision that could delay the start of jury selection because Chauvin has the option to appeal.

Trials in police killings are rare. This one comes during a seismic shift in attitudes about race, racism and policing sparked, in large part, by the videos showing Floyd pinned underneath officers for more than nine minutes. The videos show him crying for his mother as onlookers pleaded with the officers to let him breathe.

The trial follows months of protests by those who want the criminal justice system to hold the police accountable for violence, punctuated by sharp disappointments like a lack of indictments for officers in the deaths of Breonna Taylor in Louisville, Kentucky, and Daniel Prude in Rochester, New York.

Prosecutors will probably show the video in court as much as the judge will allow, to argue that Chauvin’s use of force violated Police Department policy and that he committed murder by keeping his knee on Floyd’s neck even after Floyd went silent.

The defense will attempt to portray what many view as a simple set of facts captured on video as something more complicated, probably by arguing that Floyd’s drug use and underlying health conditions were the real cause of his death.

Minneapolis, where neighborhoods and storefronts still bear the scars of last summer’s looting and arson, is already bracing for unrest if Chauvin is acquitted. Concrete barriers around government buildings and high fencing topped with razor wire have transformed downtown into a fortress and blocked off one of the most popular sites for large demonstrations. National Guard soldiers will stand watch.

Floyd’s family will gather, along with social justice activists and civil rights leaders like the Rev. Al Sharpton, who recently told reporters that Chauvin “lynched George Floyd with his knee.” And there are fears that members of the same white supremacist groups that ransacked the Capitol on Jan. 6 might descend on the Twin Cities.

It is expected to take three weeks just to seat a jury of 12 members and up to four alternates. Lawyers for both sides may have already begun vetting jury pool members, checking their social media posts. They will have read the returned questionnaires, which are not publicly available, and will use them as a starting point for questions intended to ferret out anything that is “proxy for political bias,” down to their bumper stickers, said Ted Samsell-Jones, a professor at Mitchell Hamline School of Law in St. Paul.

The questions will help the lawyers pinpoint ideological leanings and flesh out fuller portraits of each prospective juror. The defense will be looking for candidates who are politically conservative and favorably disposed toward law enforcement, while the prosecution may prefer young, highly educated people with liberal leanings.

The judge is supposed to strike any potential jurors who show an inability to set aside their preconceptions. In addition, the prosecution may strike nine potential jurors of its choice, and the defense may strike 15.

Judge Peter Cahill has taken special steps to protect the jury from interference and security threats. Jurors will not be publicly identified during the trial. They will be sequestered during deliberations and possibly during the trial itself. Inside the courtroom, pandemic-related precautions will allow for only two spectators: one from Floyd’s family and one from Chauvin’s.

Dan Herbert, a criminal defense lawyer who has represented numerous police officers including Jason Van Dyke, who was convicted in 2019 of murdering Laquan McDonald in Chicago, said the problem with holding the trial in Minneapolis was not so much that residents could not be impartial but that they might be swayed by intense community pressure.

“It will be much easier for them to come back with a verdict of guilty than a verdict of not guilty,” he said.

The defense should be looking for one or two holdouts who would not cave to public opinion, he said. “You’re just looking for somebody that is a leader,” he said. “And somebody who’s maybe even going to stay aloof from the other jurors.”

Moving the trial would inevitably mean moving it to a whiter area of Minnesota, in a case where the racial makeup of the jury will be a primary concern.

In the Rodney King case in Los Angeles in the early 1990s, the four officers caught on video beating King were acquitted after their trial was moved to the predominantly white suburb of Simi Valley, touching off violent riots. At around the same time in Minneapolis, protests rocked the city following an all-white grand jury’s decision not to indict a white officer, Dan May, who fatally shot a Black teenager in the back.

Minneapolis is about 64% white and 20% Black, while the jury pool in its county, Hennepin, was 80% white and 8% Black in the 2020 fiscal year, according to figures from the State Court Administrator’s Office. The difference reflects the fact that the county is whiter than the city and Black potential jurors tend to be slightly underrepresented in the pool.

Jury diversity is important for two reasons, experts said. Research shows that just as diverse corporations and institutions perform better, so do juries, benefiting from multiple perspectives. And if the jury lacks racial diversity, its verdict would likely not be viewed as legitimate.

Late last year, a 14-page questionnaire began to arrive in mailboxes across Minneapolis and its suburbs. It asked if the recipient had watched the video of George Floyd dying under a police officer’s knee.

Late last year, a 14-page questionnaire began to arrive in mailboxes across Minneapolis and its suburbs. It asked if the recipient had watched the video of George Floyd dying under a police officer’s knee. What about the protests against police brutality, it wanted to know — did you go? How do you feel about Black Lives Matter? It asked respondents to list their education level, any martial arts training, even their favorite podcasts. And then there was the essay prompt, followed by a daunting expanse of blank paper: Tell us everything you have heard about the death of Floyd. The questionnaire went out to potential jurors for the trial of Derek Chauvin, the white former police officer accused of murdering Floyd, who was Black. The case has touched the lives of millions and sparked the largest movement for racial justice in America since the 1960s, but the trial will ultimately decide the guilt or innocence of one man. Jury selection is set to begin Monday in a courtroom built to comply with pandemic protocols and outfitted with television cameras. Chauvin is charged with second-degree murder and second-degree manslaughter. Before his trial begins, he could face an additional charge of third-degree murder, the Minnesota Court of Appeals ruled Friday, in a decision that could delay the start of jury selection because Chauvin has the option to appeal. Trials in police killings are rare. This one comes during a seismic shift in attitudes about race, racism and policing sparked, in large part, by the videos showing Floyd pinned underneath officers for more than nine minutes. The videos show him crying for his mother as onlookers pleaded with the officers to let him breathe. The trial follows months of protests by those who want the criminal justice system to hold the police accountable for violence, punctuated by sharp disappointments like a lack of indictments for officers in the deaths of Breonna Taylor in Louisville, Kentucky, and Daniel Prude in Rochester, New York. Prosecutors will probably show the video in court as much as the judge will allow, to argue that Chauvin’s use of force violated Police Department policy and that he committed murder by keeping his knee on Floyd’s neck even after Floyd went silent. The defense will attempt to portray what many view as a simple set of facts captured on video as something more complicated, probably by arguing that Floyd’s drug use and underlying health conditions were the real cause of his death. Minneapolis, where neighborhoods and storefronts still bear the scars of last summer’s looting and arson, is already bracing for unrest if Chauvin is acquitted. Concrete barriers around government buildings and high fencing topped with razor wire have transformed downtown into a fortress and blocked off one of the most popular sites for large demonstrations. National Guard soldiers will stand watch. Floyd’s family will gather, along with social justice activists and civil rights leaders like the Rev. Al Sharpton, who recently told reporters that Chauvin “lynched George Floyd with his knee.” And there are fears that members of the same white supremacist groups that ransacked the Capitol on Jan. 6 might descend on the Twin Cities. It is expected to take three weeks just to seat a jury of 12 members and up to four alternates. Lawyers for both sides may have already begun vetting jury pool members, checking their social media posts. They will have read the returned questionnaires, which are not publicly available, and will use them as a starting point for questions intended to ferret out anything that is “proxy for political bias,” down to their bumper stickers, said Ted Samsell-Jones, a professor at Mitchell Hamline School of Law in St. Paul. The questions will help the lawyers pinpoint ideological leanings and flesh out fuller portraits of each prospective juror. The defense will be looking for candidates who are politically conservative and favorably disposed toward law enforcement, while the prosecution may prefer young, highly educated people with liberal leanings. The judge is supposed to strike any potential jurors who show an inability to set aside their preconceptions. In addition, the prosecution may strike nine potential jurors of its choice, and the defense may strike 15. Judge Peter Cahill has taken special steps to protect the jury from interference and security threats. Jurors will not be publicly identified during the trial. They will be sequestered during deliberations and possibly during the trial itself. Inside the courtroom, pandemic-related precautions will allow for only two spectators: one from Floyd’s family and one from Chauvin’s. Dan Herbert, a criminal defense lawyer who has represented numerous police officers including Jason Van Dyke, who was convicted in 2019 of murdering Laquan McDonald in Chicago, said the problem with holding the trial in Minneapolis was not so much that residents could not be impartial but that they might be swayed by intense community pressure. “It will be much easier for them to come back with a verdict of guilty than a verdict of not guilty,” he said. The defense should be looking for one or two holdouts who would not cave to public opinion, he said. “You’re just looking for somebody that is a leader,” he said. “And somebody who’s maybe even going to stay aloof from the other jurors.” Moving the trial would inevitably mean moving it to a whiter area of Minnesota, in a case where the racial makeup of the jury will be a primary concern. In the Rodney King case in Los Angeles in the early 1990s, the four officers caught on video beating King were acquitted after their trial was moved to the predominantly white suburb of Simi Valley, touching off violent riots. At around the same time in Minneapolis, protests rocked the city following an all-white grand jury’s decision not to indict a white officer, Dan May, who fatally shot a Black teenager in the back. Minneapolis is about 64% white and 20% Black, while the jury pool in its county, Hennepin, was 80% white and 8% Black in the 2020 fiscal year, according to figures from the State Court Administrator’s Office. The difference reflects the fact that the county is whiter than the city and Black potential jurors tend to be slightly underrepresented in the pool. Jury diversity is important for two reasons, experts said. Research shows that just as diverse corporations and institutions perform better, so do juries, benefiting from multiple perspectives. And if the jury lacks racial diversity, its verdict would likely not be viewed as legitimate.

First challenge in George Floyd murder trial: Finding an impartial jury

george-floyd

George Floyd, News on George Floyd, stories on George Floyd, articles on George Floyd, George Floyd stories at Wion, George Floyd news, George Floyd latest news

george floyd