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Photos: Thousands Peacefully Protest Police Brutality at Franklin Park

This was the fourth evening that Boston residents took to the streets in the wake of the death of George Floyd.


People march in a peaceful movement to protest the death of George Floyd and other black lives lost to police racism across the US at Franklin Park in Boston, Massachusetts on June 2, 2020. Photo by JOSEPH PREZIOSO/AFP via Getty Images

Tuesday, thousands of protesters, with face masks and signs in tow, peacefully marched from Blue Hill Avenue to Franklin Park as part of the city’s fourth day of demonstrations denouncing police brutality against Black people. The event, organized by the groups Violence in Boston Inc. and the local chapter of Black Lives Matter, comes a little over a week after the death of George Floyd, the Black man who was killed in police custody in Minneapolis.

The event began with a die-in blocking Blue Hill Ave. that lasted 8 minutes and 46 seconds, the same length of time that former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin knelt on Floyd’s neck.

A demonstrators attends a protest organized by Black Lives Matter in response to the death of George Floyd, an African American, at the hands of Minneapolis, Minnesota police, on June 02, 2020 in Boston, Massachusetts. Photo by Maddie Meyer/Getty Images

Then, the crowd of protesters marched to Franklin Park for a vigil and rally.

Several of Boston’s political figures were sighted among the crowd.


After a massive, peaceful protest on Sunday in downtown Boston turned violent—with looting, vandalism, and 53 arrests—there was some concern that Tuesday’s demonstration would take a similar turn. However, attendees report that the event stayed, for the most part, calm. As the rally came to a close around 7 p.m., police in cars and on motorcycles blared their sirens and attempted to pass through the crowd, which caused some panic. The situation deescalated when it began to rain and protesters dispersed, and the police eventually made their way out of the crowd.

Demonstrators surround a police officer at the conclusion of a protest organized by Black Lives Matter in response to the death of George Floyd, an African American, at the hands of Minneapolis, Minnesota police, on June 02, 2020 in Boston, Massachusetts. Photo by Maddie Meyer/Getty Images


A large group of protesters took shelter and stayed at Forest Hills Station, where they implored police to take a knee with them. Some officers complied, both at Forest Hills Station and at Boston Police Headquarters.