AP Photo/Jim Mone
- Minneapolis officials are taking heavy precautions ahead of Derek Chauvin’s trial starting March 8.
- The courthouse where Chauvin will be tried is surrounded by concrete and barbed wire.
- Chauvin is the former Minneapolis police officer who knelt on George Floyd’s neck, killing him.
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The city of Minneapolis is taking precautions before ex-police officer Derek Chauvin’s trial next week.
Barbed wire and concrete surround the Hennepin County Government Center, the courthouse where Chavin’s trial is expected to begin, the Associated Press reported. The jail and city hall are also protected, the report said.
—Joshua Potash (@JoshuaPotash) February 26, 2021
As the ABC affiliate KSTP-TV reported, officials announced their plan, “Operation Safety Net,” to ramp up security measures throughout the trial, including a heavy presence from the National Guard, according to KARE 11.
The objective of Operation Safety Net is to prevent “damage to property and crimes as well as also ensuring First Amendment constitutional rights for those who wish to peacefully gather, assemble and demonstrate,” Minneapolis Police Chief Medaria Arradondo said at a news conference on Monday, KSTP-TV reported.
Local and state agencies including police and sheriff departments and the FBI are also participating in the effort, the news station reported.
—Minnesota OSN (@MinnesotaOSN) March 1, 2021
"We want peaceful protests," Chief Arradondo told reporters at the news conference. "We want to make sure that folks are supported ... we're ensuring their First Amendment rights. But we have seen sadly last year, and across this nation of ours, that you will at times get individuals who will want to hijack that moment of peace and make it something more criminal and destructive."
Minneapolis was set to hire six social-media influencers to share "city-approved" messages to the community during Chauvin's trial but later backtracked on that decision after receiving criticism.
AP Photo/Jim Mone
Chauvin held his knee on George Floyd's neck for nearly nine minutes, eventually killing him during an arrest in May 2020. Floyd sobbed, "I can't breathe" before he died. His death sparked a wave of protests in Minneapolis which escalated after fires were ignited and businesses were looted.
The protests spread across the US and worldwide, galvanizing a movement around racial equality, and justice for people of color who have died during encounters with police.
Chauvin was charged with second-degree murder and manslaughter and jury selection for his trial starts on March 8. Other officers involved in Floyd's arrest: Tou Thao, Thomas Lane, and J. Alexander Kueng, will be tried together in late August.