Floyd to be eulogized in Minneapolis memorial, first of 3

Mourners converge in Minneapolis for the first in a series of a memorials to George Floyd, whose death at the hands of police has sparked protests around the world against racial injustice.

The afternoon event is set for North Central University, where the civil rights leader the Rev. Al Sharpton is scheduled to be among those eulogizing the 46-year-old Floyd.

“He was a human being. He had family, he had dreams, he had hopes. The real duty of one with this type of assignment is to underscore the value of the human life that was taken, which gives the reason the movement was occurring,” Sharpton says ahead of the gathering.

Memorials are set to take place in three cities over six days: After the Minneapolis event, Floyd’s body will go to Raeford, North Carolina, where he was born, for a public viewing and private family service on Saturday.

Next, a public viewing will be held Monday in Houston, where he was raised and lived most of his life. Then a 500-person service will take place Tuesday at the Fountain of Praise church.

The farewells for Floyd — an out-of-work bouncer who was arrested on suspicion of passing a counterfeit $20 bill at a convenience store and died after a white officer pressed his knee on the handcuffed black man’s neck for several minutes — come as demonstrations across the US and around the globe continue.

— AP