Minneapolis city workers early Thursday removed parts of a memorial at the intersection where George Floyd took his final breaths, as the city stated its plans to create a permanent memorial and reopen the area to through-traffic.
On Thursday morning, multiple workers could be seen moving cement barricades in the intersection of Chicago Avenue and 38th Street with tractors and trucks.
“Barricades have been removed so that ultimately (the intersection) will be reconnected into the neighborhood and traffic will be able to resume,” city spokeswoman Sarah McKenzie told CNN. “This intersection will never go back to ‘normal.’ This city is really doing everything it can with the community to preserve as many art pieces as possible.”
McKenzie emphasized that this is a community-led effort being done in coordination with the Agape Movement group. Some artifacts, like the iconic fist sculpture in the center of the intersection, will remain, she said.
The reopening of 38th and Chicago was a planned “community led effort,” Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz said during a news conference Thursday.
“There’s conversations happening in and around that area with a respectfulness to the nature of the spot where George Floyd died, but also understanding that public infrastructure needs to be opened back up in a way that works,” Walz said.

Lifetime criminal and drug abuser that died by overdose is their hero ???
How about a painted outline on the street? Nothing else, just the outline.
Why does this crap get to stay up but a political sign put up on city property gets removed because it is “Unauthorized”?
Because the media and the militant Marxist groups like Antifa and BLM work together against Americans and freedom