Although Frey said the barricades will be removed once Chauvin’s trial is over, his announcement was met with demands.

“During the trial, we know that 38th and Chicago will be a very important gathering space for community. We don’t want to take that away. Amid the darkness, the community came forward and they managed to shine a light on 38th and Chicago in a beautiful way to memorialize George Floyd,” he said, according to The Minneapolis Star Tribune. 

“But the intervening months have been far less straightforward. Barricades that were originally placed at the intersection to protect both people as well as the public art are now in many senses used as a screen for illicit activity and have re-traumatized neighborhoods,” he added. 

In August, local groups released a list of 24 demands that needed to be met before any discussion of removing the barricades could begin. 

“They want to shut down the square just to shut down protesters. They definitely want us gone before that miscarriage of justice happens,” local leader Marcia Howard told USA Today. 

The demands include removing a local prosecutor, firing the head of the state’s criminal investigative agency, funding local job programs and creating measures to end racism as well as houselessness.

The groups also want the barricades to stay there until all of the trials are over, including those of the three other officers who were with Chauvin when he killed Floyd. 

“The thing about it is that a lot of the different demands are asks from different people, and Black folks aren’t monolithic. So it’s really incumbent upon our city leadership to really look at the needs behind the asks, and really fulfilling those needs,” said local leader Jeanelle Austin in an interview with The Associated Press. 

The discussions over the barricade removal were kickstarted in part because local businesses said it was disrupting their ability to function. 

KARE 11 reported that multiple Black-owned businesses approached the city demanding something be done about the barricades. 

“It’s been a bit turmoil. Besides the mental health factor that’s a big deal to us, the streets are closed and it’s cut down 70% of revenue we’ve been able to bring in, and it’s been almost impossible to have people come because the aspect of violence. We felt like we were in the shadows of what was going on, we felt like the city was talking to people holding the barricades, but not the residents and business owners here,” Dragon Wok owner Rashad West said to KARE 11. 

“I’ve come to realize today, there aren’t funds directly allocated for businesses here. I have savings, but at this point we are trying to maintain, and we are almost in the danger zone. You fight off COVID-19, the tragedy of George Floyd, but when the street is closed and you can’t have people come out as they please, it’s impossible to market things. Of course, I want justice, but they have to understand they are hurting black business owners like myself,” he added. 

City Council Member Alondra Cano was far more candid in an interview with The Minneapolis Star Tribune, noting that the barricades were making some feel unsafe. 

“I get to hear from all the people no one wants to listen to. I get to hear from the Black elderly woman who has to sleep in her bathtub so she can avoid being shot at night. I get to hear from the other Black elderly woman who has chronic pain and can’t access the bus and therefore can’t go grocery shopping, and I get to hear from the residents who text me when there’s bullets zinging by their faces in the middle of the day as they’re gardening,” Cano said.

Other business owners said local gangs were taking advantage of the area’s significance.

“We just need these streets to open, we need police in this area. This is like Mexico in the United States. Thirty-seventh Street is the United States. You come out here, it’s like Mexico. So a person can commit a crime on 37th Street, and if they run over here, the police are not going to come. They park stolen cars here,” said Just Turkey owner Sam Willis Jr. to The Minneapolis Star Tribune. 

A GoFundMe has been created to help support some of the businesses that are struggling.