Protests in Minneapolis
Protests in MinneapolisReuters

A majority of the Minneapolis City Council vowed on Sunday to disband the local police department, The Hill reported.

Nine of the council’s 13 members made the pledge, according to the report. Members of the council told The New York Times they plan to work with the local community to develop the new system following the death of George Floyd.

The changes decided upon as a result of the process are reportedly expected to be adopted in the coming weeks.

The report comes several days after Lisa Bender, president of the council, and Jeremiah Ellison, council member and son of Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison, who is also leading the state’s prosecution of the Minneapolis officer charged with Floyd’s death, made similar vows to dismantle the local department.

“We are going to dismantle the Minneapolis Police Department. And when we’re done, we’re not simply gonna glue it back together. We are going to dramatically rethink how we approach public safety and emergency response. It’s really past due,” Ellison said on Twitter on Thursday.

Bender repeated that vow on Twitter later Thursday and pledged that the council would also replace the office with what she described then as “a transformative new model of public safety.”

Floyd died in Minneapolis on May 25 after a white police officer, Derek Chauvin, kneeled on his neck during an arrest.

Chauvin and three other officers involved in the arrest have been fired from the police department, arrested. Chauvin has been charged with second-degree murder, after initially being charged with third-degree murder, while the other three officers have been charged with aiding and abetting.

Footage of the arrest that immediately went viral late last month prompted widespread protests and violent riots in the nation and across the world, with demonstrators calling for an end to police brutality and racism.

While Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey called for the arrest of the officer charged with killing Floyd shortly after his death, he has said he does not support “abolishing the entire police department.”

Frey was booed out of a recent demonstration in Minneapolis after saying just that on Saturday, viral footage shows.