Lawyer Ben Crump quietly switched knees. The Reverend Al Sharpton needed some assistance. For eight minutes and 46 seconds on Monday relatives and lawyers of George Floyd took a knee to mark how long a white policeman knelt on the neck of the African American, who died of asphyxiation.

Their protest began at 8.46 am in Minneapolis, Minnesota, the US city where Derek Chauvin, 44, is on trial for murder and manslaughter after pinning Floyd -- on his stomach, with his hands cuffed behind his back -- to the ground.

In bystander footage Floyd can be heard pleading that he cannot breathe and loses consciousness. A coroner later ruled that he suffocated to death.

Lawyer Ben Crump (left), the Reverend Al Sharpton (C) and relatives of George Floyd take a knee in Minneapolis on March 29, 2021
Lawyer Ben Crump (left), the Reverend Al Sharpton (C) and relatives of George Floyd take a knee in Minneapolis on March 29, 2021 AFP / Kerem Yucel

"We take it, a knee, for eight minutes and 46 seconds. And we want you to think up during that time, why Chauvin didn't in that time get his knee out," Sharpton, a longtime civil rights activist, told media.

In fact, the ordeal may have lasted for even longer: at the trial Monday prosecutor Jerry Blackwell said that their calculations, based on various video recordings, showed that Chauvin maintained the force on Floyd's neck for nine minutes and 29 seconds.

The video of Floyd's death went viral, and his killing sparked a historic wave of anger in the United States and around the world against racism and police brutality against minorities.

SOUNDBITEThe trial of Derek Chauvin, a white police officer who is accused of killing George Floyd last year, will be "a referendum on how far America has come in its quest for equality and justice for all," says Ben Crump, a lawyer for the Floyd family.
SOUNDBITEThe trial of Derek Chauvin, a white police officer who is accused of killing George Floyd last year, will be "a referendum on how far America has come in its quest for equality and justice for all," says Ben Crump, a lawyer for the Floyd family. AFPTV / Agnes BUN

Sharpton and Crump, who specializes in police brutality cases against African Americans, had gathered alongside Floyd's brothers and his nephew in the square across from the court house where opening arguments in the extraordinary trial began Monday.

Crump pointed to American football player Colin Kaepernick, who was the first person to take a knee -- during the national anthem at a game in 2016 -- to protest police violence again Black people.

"Remember when Kaepernick kneeled, America got outraged. But Kaepernick did not kill nobody," Crump recalled.

At the protest, the final seconds tick down, and the protesters stand to cries of "No justice, no peace."

"That gave you an idea of how long Chauvin had George Floyd down," said Crump.

"It had to be intentional, that's the case we make."