SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (KELO.com) — Hundreds of people peacefully gathered near downtown Sioux Falls this evening for a march to honor George Floyd, who died in police custody in Minneapolis last Monday.
The rally started in VanEps Park at 5 p.m. near the City Center with various speakers and protestors chanting “No justice, no peace,” “George Floyd,” and “I can’t breathe.”
The march then moved from the park up Dakota Avenue to the steps of the Minnehaha County Courthouse. The crowd extended from north of the steps back to the intersection of 6th Street and Dakota.
Sioux Falls Police, dressed in their regular duty uniforms, blocked off 6th Street for the procession to pass.
At the courthouse, there were more speeches and chants for justice.
Following that, the crowd moved up Main Avenue to a parking lot to the east of the Minnehaha County/Sioux Falls Police Law Enforcement Center. There were more speeches calling for justice for Floyd, less police brutality toward blacks, and justice for all.
The formal rally ended at about 6 p.m. A sizeable group then marched down Main Avenue toward the Washington Pavilion.
One motorcycle police officer KELO.com News spoke with said the rally had gone peacefully.
There were rumors this afternoon that provocateurs were traveling to Sioux Falls from Fargo and that downtown businesses should put away any chairs or tables on the sidewalks in front of their businesses. KELO.com News did observe three businesses on Phillips Avenue that had either boarded up their windows or had placed plastic inside their windows to obscure the view inside the establishments.
KELO.com News observed that most of the protestors were in their teens, 20s, and 30s, with a sprinkling of older people. The crowd was also racially diverse, with whites, blacks, Native Americans, and other groups in attendance. Everyone KELO.com News spoke with said they were from Sioux Falls or another South Dakota community.
One black youth from Sioux Falls thought the event went great. He also said he had never had issues with the Sioux Falls Police and believes they would never treat people the way the Minneapolis Police treated Floyd.
However, another young black woman from Sioux Falls KELO.com News spoke with said members of her family, in her opinion, were treated badly by the SFPD. She said she was there in support of her younger brother and “the children I will one day have.”
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