Crews Removing Barriers, Memorials at George Floyd Square

(AP Photo/Christian Monterrosa)

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — Crews are removing concrete barriers as well as artwork, flowers, and other memorial items from a Minneapolis intersection that has become a sprawling memorial to George Floyd.

City crews began the work at about 4:30 a.m. Thursday at the intersection, which is informally known as George Floyd Square and was where the 46-year-old Black man was pinned to the ground by police.

The intersection at 38th Street and Chicago Avenue has been closed to traffic and became a primary gathering place for those mourning Floyd, whose death last year at the hands of police galvanized the racial justice movement.

The city says a community group worked to coordinate Thursday’s effort and a fist sculpture will remain in the middle of the intersection.