Minneapolis officials have begun clearing the memorial at the intersection where George Floyd was murdered by officer Derek Chauvin. Early Thursday, authorities removed concrete barriers and took away flowers, artwork and other tributes to victims of police violence. The site has become a center of protests and is informally known as “George Floyd Square.” Jaylani Hussein, director of the Minnesota chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations, joined protesters who said they will continue to occupy the space.

Jaylani Hussein: “It’s not the traffic that they’re trying to bring through this road; it is the fact that they want to ignore the legacies that created this country, from the genocide of Native Americans to, today, the mass incarceration of Black people all over this country and the continuous brutalization of Black people, just as the killing of George Floyd and the many incidents that have been happening. They’re not trying to drive cars through here; they’re trying to delete history. But we will not let them delete this history.”