Having decided to abolish its police department, Minneapolis does not know how to replace it

The intersection of 38th Street and Chicago Avenue has, since George Floyd was killed there on May 25th, become a shrine, pilgrimage destination and public-art exhibition. A huge raised fist surrounded by flowers stands at the intersection’s centre. “You Changed the World, George,” with sunflowers beneath and clouds above, is painted on the purple side of a squat building across the street. Amid all the expressions of grief and resolve stands an imperative: at the centre of a row of roses pinned to a clothesline, a laminated sheet of paper asks people to “Creatively imagine a world without police.” For two months, many in Minneapolis have been doing just that—and discovering just how wide the gulf between creative imagination and running a city is.

At a rally on June 6th Jacob Frey, Minneapolis’s mayor, was jeered after telling the crowd that he did not support abolishing the police department. At another rally the next afternoon in Powderhorn Park, not far from where Mr Floyd was killed, nine city councillors pledged to do just that. The city council voted unanimously to abolish the department later that month