'Get your knee off our necks': Minneapolis honours George Floyd

Scores of people paid their final respects to George Floyd at an emotionally-charged memorial where a civil rights leader declared it is time for black people to demand: "Get your knee off our necks".

“George Floyd’s story has been the story of black folks. Because ever since 401 years ago, the reason we could never be who we wanted and dreamed to be is you kept your knee on our neck,” Rev. Al Sharpton said in a fierce eulogy at a memorial service inside a university chapel in Minneapolis.

"He did not die of common health conditions. He died of a common American criminal justice malfunction," he asserted. "It's time for us to stand up in George's name and say, 'Get your knee off our necks."

Sharpton also asked mourners to stand in silence for eight minutes and 46 seconds, the length of time the police officer pinned Floyd on the ground with his knee.

Tens of thousands of people across major cities in the US took to the streets for a 10th straight day to protest against police brutality and racial injustice and to pay tribute to Floyd.