George Floyd is protesting across the United States

A large crowd of peaceful protesters in Washington, headed for Lafayette Park near the White House.

CNN correspondent Alex Marquardt said the protesters “are ending this week as they started, with a peaceful protest.”

Sitting on about 250 yoga mats donated by a social worker advocacy group, they sang “Happy Birthday” to Breonna Taylor, who was killed by police in March and who would be 27 today.

At the intersection of 16th and 8th streets, a new street sign has been erected that reads “Black Lives Matter Plaza.”

“This is where that fierce attack took place against protesters on Monday night who were protesting peacefully before the president gave that speech in Rose Garden, when he declared himself president of‘ law and order ’,” Marquardt said.

The presence of law enforcement is noticeably absent. However, city officials expect larger demonstrations on Saturday.

“These protesters have been here all week, hundreds, thousands of people, gathered here in Lafayette Park near the White House, and behind that fence, which has been reinforced all week, there are almost no police forces we can see,” Marquardt said. .

“It’s the smallest law enforcement amount I’ve seen all week that says how peaceful these protests have been. There are no police orders in this Washington city tonight. But now city officials say they expect huge demonstrations tomorrow. The biggest ones think they’re predicting since started in the city of Washington. “