Last updated 6/08/2020 at 1:25 p.m. ET.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) is leading Congressional Democrats in kneeling to honor George Floyd, also a sign of solidarity with protesters.
On Monday, Pelosi and Congressional Democrats participated in a prolonged moment of silence at Emancipation Hall at the U.S. Capitol.
“For those who wish to, we will now kneel for our moment of silence,” Pelosi said as fellow Democrats took a knee.
For nearly nine-minutes, top Democrats knelt in silent observation of the death of Floyd who died at the hands of the Minneapolis Police Department.
Congressional Democrats take a knee as they observe a nearly nine minute moment of silence for George Floyd at Emancipation Hall at the U.S. Capitol. https://t.co/JnqDlzMFDq pic.twitter.com/8CBdgtLUjz
— ABC News (@ABC) June 8, 2020
Pelosi and Congressional Democrats’ support of Floyd and protests come as they unveil an extensive, newly-proposed bill for police reform.
The new legislation “establishes a bold, transformative vision of policing in America,” said Congressional Black Caucus Chair Rep. Karen Bass (D-Calif.)
With the 134-page bill, Democrats are aiming to tackle a number of controversial police policies in place including, but not limited to: “qualified immunity,” “no-knock” search warrants, and bans on chokeholds.
The reform would also call for changes to the federal standard of criminal police behavior, as reported on IJR.
“A profession where you have the power to kill should be a profession that requires highly trained officers who are accountable to the public,” Bass also said.
The Democrats’ new bill comes as protesters across the United States continue the ongoing fight for racial equality and police reform. As of Monday, protesters all over the U.S. have for two weeks.
Photos and drone footage over Los Angeles, Seattle, New York, and other cities have captured the magnitude of the large protests that took place over the weekend.
Really beautiful footage of the protest in Los Angeles yesterday by @ronkurokawa
— Yashar Ali 🐘 (@yashar) June 8, 2020
His IG: https://t.co/W01xp5IRoQ pic.twitter.com/acoDxK3COo
Yesterday's protest in South Seattle was beautiful. Hella solidarity, hella music, no cops. pic.twitter.com/jViaWWqb1d
— Margo Iñiguez Dawes (@margo_ID) June 8, 2020
In the wake of George Floyd’s death, protests have also erupted in other countries.
look these are peaceful protests from around the world !! (toronto, london, tokyo and berlin)#BLACK_LIVES_MATTERShttps://t.co/SyTAfkIJ7n
— ⁷ (@adorejeonz) June 1, 2020
Over the last two weeks, massive protests have also taken place in Germany, Japan, Toronto, the United Kingdom, Nigeria, Syria, New Zealand, Rotterdam, and other areas of the world.