Watch: Largely peaceful protests continue across much of US despite curfews

While protests in the United States were criticized in recent days for turning violent, many protests were carried out in a peaceful manner across the country.

Protests kicked off on May 26 after a black man was killed by a white police officer as a result of the latter pinning his knee into George Floyd’s neck for several minutes.

Despite the ensuing violence, looting, and vandalism, many protesters condemned the violence and insisted on holding peaceful protests in order to achieve justice and denounce racial injustice in the US.

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A peaceful protest was being held in front of the White House on Tuesday before security forces pelted activists, demonstrators, and journalists with rubber bullets and tear gas.

Shortly after, US President Donald Trump issued a plea for states to deploy military forces to restore “law and order” and he asked for National Guard members to be sent to the US capital to protect it.

Before and after Trump’s speech, protesters in a number of US cities and towns held peaceful protests.

On Tuesday, in Texas, thousands of protesters marched to Downtown Houston to make their voices heard in a peaceful manner.

On the same day, but in Virginia, a group of protesters were on their knees near police officers and chanting “Don’t shoot.”

As the group was peacefully protesting in front of a Robert E. Lee statue in Richmond, tear gas was launched to disperse the protesters.

On Thursday, Virginia Governor Ralph Northam announced that the Robert E. Lee statue would be removed. Lee was a Confederate general and his statue, along with four other statues of Confederate figures on the same road, have long stirred controversy. The Robert E. Lee statue is the only one of the five that is owned by the state of Virginia. Richmond’s police chief and the city’s mayor both apologized for the actions of the police during the peaceful protest.

In Salt Lake City, Utah, on Wednesday, hundreds of protesters were seen dancing in unison to the “Cupid Shuffle.”

In Florida’s Daytona Beach, several hundred locals carried posters and peacefully marched down a local road. The march was postponed due Thursday’s rainfall in the area, but hundreds headed to the protest.

A side road along a highway in Nashville, Tennessee was also the site of a massive peaceful march. The video below shows what appears to be thousands of people protesting peacefully.

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