MINNEAPOLIS (BLOOMBERG, AFP) – The police department in the US city of Minneapolis will be dismantled and rebuilt, city councilors said late on Sunday (June 7) after the death in custody of Mr George Floyd sparked nationwide protests about racism in law enforcement. 

“We committed to dismantling policing as we know it in the city of Minneapolis and to rebuild with our community a new model of public safety that actually keeps our community safe,” Council President Lisa Bender told CNN. 

A veto-proof majority of the city council had earlier pledged to “begin the process” of dismantling its police force. It was the strongest of proposals aimed at police reform nationally, including in New York and Los Angeles. 

The pledge came amid the wave of anger and protest over Mr Floyd’s death after a city police officer knelt on his neck for almost nine minutes. The nine votes are veto-proof. 

Council members, who signed the dismantling pledge before hundreds of onlookers, said they did not have immediate plans for what would replace the force but would consult with the community on a new structure for public safety. 

Council member Alondra Cano tweeted that the decision came through “a veto-proof majority of the MPLS City Council”, which agreed that the police department “is not reformable and that we’re going to end the current policing system”.

Ms Bender told CNN she was looking to shift police funding toward community-based strategies, and that the city council would discuss how to replace the current police department. 

“The idea of having no police department is certainly not in the short term,” she said. 

A white Minneapolis police officer has been charged with murder in the May 25 death of Mr Floyd, after bystander video showed the officer’s knee pinned on Mr Floyd’s neck for nearly nine minutes while he pleaded for his life and called for his mother. It was the latest case of white law enforcement authorities being blamed for the death of an unarmed black person. 

Mr Floyd’s death has sparked two weeks of mostly peaceful demonstrations across the country against racism in US law enforcement. Some marchers have called for the police to be defunded. 

Last year, a black former Minneapolis police officer was sentenced to 12 years and six months in prison for the fatal shooting of an unarmed white Australian woman trying to report a crime. 

On Saturday, Mayor Jacob Frey was booed by a sea of protesters then fled after he said: “I do not support the full abolition of the police.” 

A civil rights lawyer, he was elected in 2018 after promising to mend relations between the police and Minneapolis residents. 

Earlier on Sunday, Mayor Bill de Blasio said he was lifting New York City’s curfew as the city starts reopening Monday after the pandemic.

Governor Andrew Cuomo said “the one variable” is whether protesters spread Covid-19. He urged all protesters to get tested. 

Protesters marched again on Sunday, though not in the apparent record numbers of the day before, nationally and globally. Despite the crowds’ size on Saturday, fewer arrests were reported in New York City and in the nation’s capital. 

US President Donald Trump tweeted on Sunday that he was ordering the National Guard to vacate Washington “now that everything is under perfect control.” The threat to send in active-duty military was never realised. 

Mr Mitt Romney, the Utah Republican senator and 2012 GOP candidate for president, marched alongside hundreds of religious protesters singing Christian hymns as they walked toward the White House, NBC and the Washington Post reported. 

“We need a voice against racism, we need many voices against racism and against brutality,” Mr Romney said. “We need to stand up and say that black lives matter.” 

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