A vigil is set to take place at Nottingham’s Old Market Square this evening to mark one year to the day George Floyd was killed by Police Officer Derek Chauvin.
The event will be held at 6pm and will feature a nine-and-a-half-minute silence for Mr Floyd, as this was said by prosecutors to be the amount of time Derek Chauvin had his knee on Mr Floyd’s neck.
The Next Gen Movement set up the vigil through a post on their Facebook page, announcing the silence and expressed how they need “an open conversation about what changes have happened in the past year and what still needs to be done.”
George Floyd, 46, was murdered in Minneapolis, Minnesota, United States by Derek Chauvin after he was arrested on suspicious of using counterfeit money.
During his arrest, Chauvin, formerly of the Minneapolis Police Department, knelt on Mr Floyd’s neck for the nine and a half minutes where George complained about not being able to breathe.
Mr Floyd later died at the scene after not responding for several minutes.
Following his death, video footage was released in the days following sparking the Black Lives Matter movement with protests being held across the US and various countries around the world, including the UK.
A Black Lives Matter protest was held in Nottingham’s Forest Recreation ground last year on June 7, 2020.
Since Chauvin’s arrest, he has been convicted of second-degree unintentional murder, third-degree murder and second-degree murder.
Two other police officers involved in the homicide of Mr Floyd was J. Alexander Kueng, Thomas Kane and Tou Thao, who were all charged with aiding and abetting second-degree murder.
Follow for more updates as we report from the vigil.