'Defund the police': Crowds continue to march, occupy streets during Black Lives Matter protests

Protesters across the United States continue to march around city streets, at times occupying entire blocks and milling about, in what appeared to be peaceful protests of alleged systemic racism throughout the country. 

Video feed of a mass protest in Washington, D.C. showed hundreds of protesters hanging around the recently renamed "Black Lives Matter Plaza" just near the White House. The scene resembled a street festival, with loud music and throngs of participants weaving in and out of each other with no apparent destination. 

Protesters during the gathering ended up painting a large "Defund the Police" message on the city street, directly next to a much more massive "Black Lives Matter" banner painted earlier in the day that took up most of two city blocks. 

Protesters were seen dancing in a large group at one point. 

The scene had been far more densely crowded several hours before. "Absolutely massive crowds" were stretching for "blocks in multiple directions" early Saturday evening, with protesters flouting months of social distancing guidelines in protest of what they claim is systemic racism and an epidemic of police-led killings of black men in the United States. 

Extended live feeds from protests across the country, meanwhile, showed protesters at times in densely crowded groups. In other cases sparse groups of demonstrators appeared to wander city streets with no apparent goal or direction. 

In Chicago earlier in the day, meanwhile, a "massive, peaceful" crowd was seen at the city's Union Park. 

A particularly enormous crowd was seen in Philadelphia earlier in the day, marching down the city's Benjamin Franklin Parkway. 

Protests in the U.S. were just some among many demonstrations across the planet, as activists defied months of social distancing orders and gathering in huge groups to protest the death of Minneapolis resident George Floyd.  

Inspired by events in the U.S., thousands of protesters gathered in London's Parliament Square on Saturday chanting George Floyd's name as well as the slogan "Black Lives Matter" and at one point kneeling on the ground. 

Protests in Australia, Germany, Amsterdam, Brazil, Nigeria, New Zealand and elsewhere have also been reported.