Dozens gather along Las Cruces’ Main Street for peaceful protest of George Floyd death

LAS CRUCES, New Mexico -- Dozens of protesters holding signs saying "Black Lives Matter," "Justice for Floyd" and "Stop KKKilling" occupied a Las Cruces street corner Saturday to join demonstrations across the U.S. over the death of George Floyd, a handcuffed black man, in the custody of Minneapolis police.

The peaceful protest involved about 40 people, mostly local college students, at the intersection of Main Street and Picacho. Car horns could be heard honking in support periodically as residents drove by the busy area during the afternoon.

The Las Cruces demonstrators said they planned to occupy that street corner throughout Saturday and again on Sunday to show solidarity with the other national protests.

The protesters told ABC-7 that they did not have any issues locally with the Las Cruces police, but do believe there's a systemic issue in other parts of the nation with police treatment of minority community members.

The protesters here in Las Cruces say they’ll be here most of the day and also Sunday to show solidarity with other national protests. They say they haven’t had any issues with local Las Cruces cops but know it’s a systemic issue nationwide@abc7breaking #GeorgeFloydprotest pic.twitter.com/dtyYxoDC9b

— Michael Gordon KVIA ABC-7 (@MichaelGordonTV) May 30, 2020