Protest planned for Sunday at Dunlawton Bridge in wake of George Floyd’s death

A peaceful protest is planned for Sunday in Port Orange following the death of handcuffed black man George Floyd under the knee of Derek Chauvin, a now-fired Minneapolis police officer, who is white.

Organizer Nicolas Franzini and co-organizer Courtney Sanders-Smith invite the public to join a “transgenerational” Justice for Floyd Peaceful Protest to demonstrate against “institutional racism” across the United States, Franzini said.

“This is all sparked by the outrage of the murder of George Floyd, which is obviously an atrocity,” Franzini said. “But we're also trying to go beyond that and also protest the institutional problem. It's more than just one killing. This happens all the time.”

[READ MORE: Minneapolis cop who knelt on handcuffed black man arrested]

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Protesters will meet in the parking lot on the northwest side of the Dunlawton Bridge, across the street from the restaurant Aunt Catfish's On the River, at 11 a.m. Sunday. The march will go over the bridge, cross Dunlawton Avenue at a crosswalk and circle back to the meeting place, Franzini said. Organizers encourage attendees to bring signs, banners and “as many people as possible.”

“We've reached a breaking point in our society where we're finally, you know, white, black, Latino, all races, are kind of coming together and saying, 'Enough is enough,’” Franzini said.

Outrage has shaken the country since video from an eyewitness was released, showing Chauvin kneeling on Floyd’s neck, while Floyd pleads he can’t breathe. While protests in Minneapolis and elsewhere have resulted in looting, violence and fires, Franzini encourages protesters locally to stay peaceful and abide the law.

I asked every member of @VolusiaSheriff to watch the video, discuss it and realize if you're in that situation, you have to step up, step in and get his knee off his neck. https://t.co/2aCKnzbzft

— Mike Chitwood (@SheriffChitwood) May 29, 2020

“Part of our pledge is to completely follow the laws, so that includes not blocking traffic, not blocking pedestrians, and purely staying within our Constitutional rights to protest on the sidewalks,” he said. “Our peaceful demonstration will be more of a march to raise awareness, and we're not going to be taking part in any illegal actions.”

According to police, officers were looking for a suspect of an alleged forgery at a corner store on Monday, May 25, in Minneapolis and arrested Floyd, 46. The circumstances leading to Floyd being pinned on the ground remain unclear. Floyd was declared dead at a nearby hospital soon after the incident, according to authorities.

Chauvin and three other officers involved in the incident have been fired from the Minneapolis Police Department. Chauvin was taken into custody Friday and has been charged with third-degree murder and manslaughter.

Locally, Volusia and Flagler county sheriffs and Craig Capri, chief of the Daytona Beach Police Department, have condemned the actions of Chauvin and other involved officers.

Organizer Franzini is a second-year student at Florida State University and Port Orange native, while Sanders-Smith is a student at Daytona State College.

“My friends and I have been watching these protests going on across the nation, these peaceful demonstrations, where hundreds of people are walking across the streets and sidewalks across our nation, and it's really inspired us to say, you know, ’Why can't we be doing that right here in Port Orange?” Franzini said. "So we decided to plan our own. We have a serious issue in our country that needs to be solved."