By late morning on May 26, a makeshift memorial had been set up in Minneapolis outside the Cup Food store at East 38th Street and Chicago Avenue, the street intersection where Floyd was murdered the day prior. The first organized protests emerged at the same location by midday. Some of the gathered protesters chanted, "I can't breathe, I can't breathe", words repeated multiple times by Floyd in the viral video. Many people carried homemade signs that read, "Black Lives Matter," "Stop Killing Black People," and "I Can't Breathe." By the afternoon, as more details about the May 25 incident between Floyd and the police were known, thousands more rallied at the street intersection, and organizers emphasized keeping the gathering peaceful. Police estimated the size of the crowd at approximately 8,000 people.
