‘This is our peaceful protest’: George Floyd’s brother urges Americans to vote Trump out

‘So important to vote’, says Terence Floyd

George Floyd's younger brother urged Americans to cast their ballots and vote Trump out in a powerful election day message as the country's remaining voters headed to the polls.

Terence Floyd said it was important for Americans to "make their voices heard" in what has been described as the most imporant election in living memory.

It came just five months after his brother George was killed in police custody in Minneapolis.

His killing proved to be a tinderbox moment for race relations in the US, sparking nationwide protests across the country.  

Terence told Associated Press: "Well, when you look at past events that's been going on with the police brutality and everything in the world.  

"This is why it's so important right now to vote, because the things that's going on in this world, we complain and we want to say, 'oh, this is not right. That's not right'".  

Terence added that voting can serve as an act of "peaceful protest". "And when a change comes we gotta keep it going because we have to be the change too," he said.

His intervention came just hours before polls across the country began to close, ushering in the end of one of the most unusual election campaigns in history.

Some 100 million people had already cast their ballots ahead of the 3 November poll, largely due to the ongoing coronavirus pandemic, which has so far claimed some 232,000 US lives.

George Floyd, a Texas native, was killed by a white police officer in Minneapolis on 25 May. He had been apprehended by officers after attempting to use a counterfeit bank note to buy cigarettes.

Derek Chauvin, a Minneapolis police who has since been fired, knelt on Floyd's neck for over eight minutes. 

Floyd said he could not breathe and died shortly after. Chauvin has been charged with second-degree murder, third-degree murder and manslaughter.

Three other officers involved in Floyd's death – Thomas Lane, Alexander Kueng and Tou Thao – are charged with aiding and abetting both second-degree murder and manslaughter.

A trial has been set for March 2021.