A thousand Des Moines community members took a knee for eight minutes and 46 seconds, the time George Floyd was under a Minneapolis Police officer’s knee

Floyd was a 46-year-old Black man who died May 25 in Minneapolis after police officer Derek Chauvin pinned his knee on Floyd’s neck for at least eight minutes.

While the incident was happening, people were recording Floyd laying on his stomach, hands cuffed behind his back and begging the officers to let him up.

“I can’t breathe,” Floyd said repeatedly in the video. 

The officers were responding to reports from a nearby grocery store claiming Floyd made a purchase using a counterfeit $20 bill. 

As rallies, protest and riots continue over the nation, Des Moines faith and community leaders organized a candlelight vigil to honor the memory of George Floyd.

Chauvin was charged Friday with third-degree murder and manslaughter, and the four officers who were involved, including Chauvin, were fired from the Minneapolis Police Department.

The opening and closing prayers were given by Rabbi David Kaufman, who said he had open-heart surgery during the past year and has been avoiding crowds because of the pandemic, according to the Des Moines Register, but he couldn’t stay away as “the greatest sin is our silence.”

After the vigil, members of the Des Moines community confronted Mayor Frank Cownie on the tactics used against the protest taking place Friday and Saturday

“Every place we go, whether it’s downtown after we have a reasonable about the feelings, the genuine feelings of our citizens and then you have a bunch of yellers and screams that talk about not being heard or whatever,” Cownie said. “I’m not quite sure that they ever expressed what their issues are but they’re very loud about it. Our purpose with city government and as a citizen, we need to protect the wellbeing of our citizens and that’s what this great gathering right here is about. What it looked like, the horrific acts that happened up in Minneapolis to George Floyd should not happen anywhere and it should be appropriately prosecuted. We want to support that and whether it happens in Minneapolis or any other city in this country, we want to see the law supported and the rights of people supported. That’s what we’re about and I’m not sure what they’re about.” 

Cownie left before the Daily could ask any follow-up questions. 

The community member that confronted Cownie, who said they wished to stay anonymous, said they asked Cownie if tear gas was a reasonable measure to control, which they said Cownie said no. 

“I asked him if he valued people over property because he seemed to be very worried about property being damaged but didn’t seem to be worried about the police shooting tear gas at people,” the individual said. “I was pointing out that tear gas in international conflicts is a war crime but not when it’s used against his own citizens. I was just kind of angry that he didn’t seem to want to listen to his citizens and his constituents.” 

As the candlelight vigil ended, tensions grew around the protests in Merle Hay Mall. Several stores closed due to the protest, according to the Des Moines Register, and police had arrived in full riot gear and armored cars. 

Tear gas was deployed around 8:30 p.m., the crowd ran toward neighboring apartments and further away from the mall.

“[The police] started throwing — I don’t know if it was like mace or whatever —  little grenades and now they’re saying they finna deploy tear gas on anybody in the next five minutes even though curfew is at 9 p.m.,” said Tenley Copman who was at the protest. “They don’t care if there’s all women, they don’t care if there’s a baby — they don’t care. I saw them grab somebody, like this girl — she wasn’t doing nothing, she was walking by McDonalds, they grabbed her, smashed her up against the glass, held her arm and pepper-sprayed in the fucking face dude, like repeatedly until it was fucking gone. She’s got her hands up and everything and they’ve literally — it’s fucked.” 

A 9 p.m. curfew for Polk County was issued Sunday in order to prevent and control more riots. 

Andrea Sahouri, breaking news reporter for the Des Moines Register, was arrested while covering the protest at Merle Hay Mall. Sahouri said in a Twitter video that she and her boyfriend were running and he was hit by a tear gas canister. 

“As I was seeing if he was ok, police came closer and we went around the corner and I was saying ‘I’m press, I’m press, I’m press,” Sahouri said in a video she posted on Twitter. “Police deliberately took me, sprayed pepper spray on my face, and put me in zip ties.” 

Sahouri was charged with failure to disperse and interference with official acts, according to the Des Moines Register, and was released shortly after 11 p.m. Sunday. 

As tensions grew, some protesters, members of Mother’s Against Violence, members of the NAACP and State Rep. Ako Abdul-Samad tried to deescalate the situation and make a deal between the protestors and the police. 

Members who were trying to deescalate the situation warned the protesters the police will resort to tear-gassing, rubber bullets and arrest. 

Prominent members of the Des Moines community members begged the crowd to stop the retaliation and advancement toward the police officers. 

“We understand the anger, we understand the madness, we understand the frustration  — we are with you guys,” said Sylvia Jefferson, a member of Mother’s Against Violence. “Throwing rocks, breaking into buildings […] is not where it’s at, that is not cool. We have to be able to show the governor, the mayor, the legislators, the senators — we have to be able to show them that we can come together and be peaceful.” 

Despite the warnings, some protesters continued to march forward. 

“We want peace too but the police is gassing us and stuff, what do you think they’re going to do? We’re not out here to follow their rules, that’s the problem right there,” Imani Brown, a protester at the event said. “That’s not what we’re here for, their rules are not important anymore. They don’t follow their own rule so we’re gonna do what we gotta do, if it goes up, it goes up.”