Wednesday, 21 April 2021_A crowd gathers outside the downtown Minneapolis courtroom to celebrate as sacked Minneapolis policeman Derek Chauvin is convicted of the murder of George Floyd. "We can finally breathe," says Selena McNight as she stands outside the Hennepin County Government Center.
Nervous crowds awaiting a verdict in the trial of Derek Chauvin erupted in jubilation on Tuesday (April 20) after the jury found the former Minneapolis police officer guilty of murder and manslaughter in the death of George Floyd during an arrest last May.
Throngs gathered in George Floyd square, around the intersection where Floyd, a 46-year-old Black man, died with his neck pinned to the street under Chauvin's knee, screamed, cheered and applauded at the news of the guilty verdict.
Minnesota resident Gabriel Ijjo said he was in disbelief at the verdict.
"I don't think it's hit me quite yet. But I'm overjoyed, I'm happy. Because this morning I didn't have no hope that this man was even going to go to jail, and I find out he got all three counts. I thought it was just going to be manslaughter, if anything, so I'm, happy is one emotion for sure," he said.
The square has become a place of pilgrimage and protest since Floyd's death made him the face of a national movement against racial injustice and police brutality. Protests against his killing swept the United States and the world last year in the midst of the coronavirus pandemic.
A 12-member jury found Chauvin, 45, guilty of all three charges against him - second- and third-degree murder and manslaughter - after deliberating for just over 10 hours in a trial that encompassed three weeks of testimony from 45 witnesses. Chauvin was quickly led away from the courtroom in handcuffs after the verdict was read.
Kimberly Bernard, from New York, said that the verdict makes the Black Lives Matter movement "unstoppable".
"This is a message to every little black child coming up that your life matters. And if your life is taken at the hands of the state there will be consequences. And I hope every killer cop is watching and paying attention, because today the Black Lives Matter movement served notice on you," she said.
Chauvin will likely seek to overturn his murder and manslaughter convictions by arguing that the jury was prejudiced by media coverage and a settlement in the civil case brought by George Floyd's family, though his odds of success are slim, legal experts say.
Source: Agencies
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