Protesters at George Floyd march in Claremont
Stopping to hear speeches at the Claremont police station on Wednesday, June 3rd, about hundreds of demonstrators marched through Claremont demanding change following the death of George Floyd in police custody.
The speeches came after a brief confrontation with officers, who stood outside the Police Department with helmets on and shields up.
The crowd of approximately 600 engaged in a call-and-response in front of the officers: “Say his name — George Floyd” and “Say her name — Breonna Taylor.”
The group symbolically took a knee in solidarity with Floyd, a 46-year-old black man who died on Memorial Day in Minneapolis when former Officer Derek Chauvin put a knee to Floyd’s throat for nearly nine minutes, an act caught on video. Floyd had been accused of passing a counterfeit $20 bill.
On Wednesday, the Minneapolis Star Tribune reported prosecutors plan to charge Chauvin with second-degree murder, and will also charge three other officers who were at the scene.
Taylor, a 26-year-old black emergency medical tech, was shot eight times on March 13 after narcotics detectives knocked down the front door in Louisville. No drugs were found in the home.
Into the early evening the speaking continued as the afternoon heat bore down on the group focused on diversity and discussing race, police brutality, and voting.
Earlier in the day, about 800 people took part in a demonstration in neighboring La Verne.
Protests and demonstrations have taken place throughout the country and have led to unrest and curfews in some cities.
Claremont is a city on the eastern edge of Los Angeles County, California, United States, 30 miles (48 km) east of downtown Los Angeles. It is in the Pomona Valley, at the foothills of the San Gabriel Mountains. As of the 2010 census it had a population of 34,926, and in 2019 the estimated population was 36,266.
Claremont is the home of the Claremont Colleges and other educational institutions, and the city is known for its tree-lined streets with numerous historic buildings. It was also named the best suburb in the West by Sunset Magazine in 2016, which described it as a "small city that blends worldly sophistication with small-town appeal." In 2018, Niche rated Claremont as the 17th best place to live in the Los Angeles area out of 658 communities it evaluated, based on crime, cost of living, job opportunities, and local amenities. Due to its large number of trees and residents with doctoral degrees, as well as its proximity to the renowned Claremont Colleges, it is sometimes referred to as "The City of Trees and Ph.Ds."
