As it happened: George Floyd officer convicted of murder

It was a tense day at the White House. It began with Joe Biden saying he was praying for the “right verdict” in the Derek Chauvin trial, and his press secretary spending much of her subsequent news conference deflecting questions about whether that was a reckless statement.

It ended with the president and Vice-President Kamala Harris marking what they said was a just resolution to the case.

Their statements were delivered in the Cross Hall of the White House - the same location Barack Obama chose to announce the killing of Osama bin Laden.

The message was clear, that this was another historic day; another victory for justice. Biden warned, however, that the verdict was just a “step forward”, and “not enough”.

“We can’t stop here,” he said.

Both he and Harris specifically pointed to a history of systemic racism in the US, which Biden called a “stain on our nation’s soul".

To overcome that history, he said, requires lawmakers to act and for the American people to continue to work.

It shouldn’t take a “murder in the full light of day”, captured on video and stretched over nine minutes, as Biden said, to get the nation’s attention anymore.

I stopped to speak to this woman when I saw she was crying. She told me the conviction of a former police officer for murder was long overdue.

"This is the first time we’ve convicted a cop in this state for murder, except for the one black cop,” she said.

"This was for George, but this was for a lot of other people too."

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At a hair salon in Minneapolis, the guilty verdict against Derek Chauvin was greeted with relief and tears.

"We can start the healing process, knowing that we have someone on our side," Alicia Whitfield told the BBC.

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Closing his remarks, Joe Biden recalls George Floyd's final words: "I can't breathe."

"We can't let those words die with him," Biden says, clasping his hands and leaning down into the microphone.

"We have to keep hearing those words. We must not turn away, we can't turn away," he says. "We have a change to begin to change the trajectory in this country."

"May God bless you, and may God bless George Floyd and his family."

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President Biden says he spoke with Gianna Floyd, George Floyd's six-year-old daughter, following the verdict.

"Daddy's looking down on you, he's so proud," Biden says he told Gianna.

"I told her this afternoon - Daddy did change the world," Biden said.

Continuing on the theme of accountability, President Joe Biden says that "no one should be above the law".

"Today's verdict sends that message," he says. "But it's not enough."

The Democratic president rails against "systemic racism and the racial disparities that exist in policing and in our criminal justice system more broadly".

"State and local law enforcement need to step up, so does the federal government," he says, mentioning a police reform bill named after George Floyd.

Democrats last year thwarted a police reform bill put forward by a black Republican senator, Tim Scott of South Carolina, arguing that it did not go far enough.

A frustrated Scott recently pointed out that his bill overlapped with many of the proposals in the legislation now being pushed by Democrats.

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Biden is describing the "convergence of factors" that led to the guilty verdict today.

He thanks the "young woman with a smartphone camera", who filmed George Floyd's death. He thanks the officers who testified against Chauvin "instead of just closing ranks".

"For so many, it feels like it took all of that for the judicial system to deliver basic accountability," he says.

He says black people "don’t have to wake up knowing that they can lose their life in the very course of living their life".

President Joe Biden is speaking now.

He calls George Floyd's death "a murder in the full light of day".

"It ripped the blinders off for the whole world to see on systemic racism," he says.

"Systemic racism is a stain on the whole nation’s soul."

Biden laments "the knee on the neck of justice for black Americans" and says "enough, enough of these senseless killings".

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Vice-President Kamala Harris speaks first.

"Today, we feel a sigh of relief. Still, it cannot take away the pain," she says. "We still must reform the system."

Harris turns to the George Floyd bill - meant to reform policing - as a next step.

"This bill is part of George Floyd's legacy," she says. "This work is long overdue."

She adds: "America has a long history of systemic racism."

The graphic video of George Floyd's last moments - seen around the world - was captured by a 17-year-old bystander named Darnella.

Darnella and her nine-year-old cousin had gone to the convenience store to get snacks when they came upon the scene of Floyd's arrest.

Darnella delivered emotional testimony during the first week of the Chauvin trial.

Now 18, she took to Instagram upon hearing the verdict.

"I just cried so hard. This last hour my heart was beating so fast, I was so anxious," she wrote.

"But to know GUILTY ON ALL 3 CHARGES! THANK YOU GOD THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU."

"George Floyd, we did it. Justice has been served."

The people at the memorial site now known as 'George Floyd Square' are cautiously relieved as many people here tell us that this guilty verdict does not solve the issue of black men dying in the presence of police officers.

Hundreds of people are here chanting Floyd's name, hugging one another, and cheering - one person even started throwing cash in the air as they celebrated the guilty verdict.

The intersection has become a place where members of the community have come together daily for the past 10 months to demand action and change.

Former Baltimore Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake says this verdict "sends a message to police departments all over the country that our eyes are on them".

"We expect police to treat every citizen with respect - treat them the way that you want someone to treat your mother, your sister, your son, your daughter."

Watch her full response below.

After the verdict, activists changed a sign that read "Justice for George Floyd" to "Justice served?"

The sign is at George Floyd Square, as the intersection of 38th Street and Chicago Avenue in Minneapolis is now known.

The crowd outside the court in Minneapolis has been growing since the verdict was announced about an hour and a half ago.

Here are some more images from the city, where people are still chanting, cheering and embracing.

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"God did it," activist Eliza Wesley said through tears. "He did not fail us."

"It was time for change, and a change has come, a change is here. This is where it started. We have saved people’s lives here."

Watch her response to the verdict below.

The death of George Floyd sparked an outcry across the US, but it also set off mass protests around the world, including in UK cities like London and Birmingham.

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson is one of the first world leaders to react to the verdict in the trial of Derek Chauvin over Floyd's death.

In a post on Twitter, Johnson wrote he was "appalled" by how Floyd died and is keeping the Floyd family in his thoughts.

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Civil rights leader Al Sharpton is calling the verdict a moment of "sunlight".

"Today we can wipe our tears away and fight on for another day," he just told a news conference.

"We don't find pleasure in this," he said. "We don't celebrate a man going to jail. We would rather have George Floyd still here."

Leading a group of civil rights leaders in prayer, Sharpton recalled other black victims at the hands of white police officers and noted the funeral of 20-year-old Daunte Wright, fatally shot by police just last week, is just two days away.

He said the verdict was proof that "if we don't give up, we can win some rounds" and the fight will keep going until major police reform is passed at the federal level.

"The fight is not over."

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President Joe Biden and Vice-President Kamala Harris spoke with members of Floyd's family immediately after the verdict. The pair had watched the verdict live on television from the White House's private dining room.

"At least now there is some justice," Biden was heard saying. "We've been watching every second of this. We are all so relieved."

Speaking next, Harris said she was "thankful to the entire family".

"Your family has been the real leaders of this moment. We are going to make sure that George's legacy is intact and history will look back at this moment," she said. "We're going to make something good come out of this tragedy."