Chanting, sign-holding crowd lines Quentin Road to protest in Palatine

A massive sign-holding and chanting crowd gathered early Thursday evening near the northeast corner of Palatine and Quentin roads in Palatine to protest the death of George Floyd, attracting several honks of support from passing drivers.

The protesters lined up for about a quarter-mile on Quentin north of Palatine Road and were still coming as the evening progressed.

Garrett Garcia, 22, of Palatine said it was important to peacefully take a stand against injustice. He also said there needs to be more than protesting to effect change in how police operate.

"Definitely, the next step is like local government and moving into state governments and then, hopefully, on the national scale," Garcia said.

Protester Timothy Ferguson, 65, of Hoffman Estates said he's never been treated unfairly by suburban police. However, he said, there seems to be too many bad cops on the street nowadays.

"In fact, I've always been pro-police," Ferguson said. "I've always believed that there are more policemen that are trying really hard to help and save and do the right thing. But the whole idea of bad apples, I'm afraid that's run out now because this obviously is a systemic problem."