Humberto Cardounel Mark Herring David R. Hines Jeffrey S. Katz Ralph Northam Anthony S. Pike Levar Stoney William C. Smith John Venuti Richmond, Virginia, experienced a series of riots in the wake of the murder of George Floyd.

Given the city's Confederate roots, many of the areas of attack by rioters were the statues along Monument Avenue, near The Fan neighborhood of Richmond.

[7][8]: 6:24  During the final three minutes Floyd was motionless and had no pulse[9][10] while Chauvin ignored onlookers' pleas to remove his knee, which he did not do until medics told him to.

[20][21][22] On the evening of May 30 into the early morning hours of May 31, several hundred protesters organized around the campus of Virginia Commonwealth University and marched down Monument Avenue.

Subsequently, rioters tagged the Robert E. Lee Monument with various slogans, including "Black Lives Matter", "Lynch Trump", "All Cops Are Bastards", and "Fuck Capitalism".

[30] Around 7:20 p.m., about forty minutes prior to curfew, Richmond police tear gassed a group of about 500 or 600 protestors that had gathered near the Stuart and Lee monuments.

[31] Drone footage showed the police standing in a diamond formation, with two officers in the center throwing or firing the first tear gas canisters.

[32] This posture and formation of officers indicated that this was a premeditated action,[31] and not a response to being separated from their group as initially tweeted by the police department.

[41] On June 3, an open plaza was set up on the grounds of the Lee Monument to serve as a DIY cultural center.

On the night of June 6, protesters toppled a statue of Williams Carter Wickham, a Confederate general, in Monroe Park.

On June 20, in The Fan neighborhood nearby, protesters tore down the First Virginia Regiment Monument, a statue commemorating Revolutionary War veterans.

On June 22, protesters rallied outside of Richmond City Hall during a City Council meeting,[59] demanding the abolition of the RPD, the creation of a Citizens Review Board with subpoena power, and a "Marcus Alert System", which would send trained social workers to a mental health crisis instead of police.

Mayor Stoney and Police Chief Gerald Smith jointly announced that white supremacists had been acting as agents provocateurs, "marching under the banner of Black Lives Matter, an attempt to undermine an otherwise overwhelmingly peaceful movement.

"[62][63] Throughout August, more efforts were made by the Richmond Police Department and the mayor's office to quell the ongoing protests and riots, which had been occurring for nearly two months.

On August 7, the Police Department actively disassembled camping area around the Lee Monument site, citing complaints from nearby residents.

[64] On August 11, the unofficial historic markers were removed by city officials, and the RPD upped its efforts to prevent overnight camping on the site.

[65] On August 13, the ongoing protests joined with student activist groups at nearby Virginia Commonwealth University to defund or abolish the VCU Police Department.

[66] Demands included the release the department's line-item budget for the last five fiscal years, for the university to sever ties with the Richmond Police Department, to redirect all police monies to mental health services, and to actively ban the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) from entering the campus.

On May 31, 2020, Mayor Levar Stoney issued a city-wide curfew from 8:00 p.m. until 6:00 a.m.[68] for non-essential workers in the wake of the ongoing protests.

On June 1, 2020, the Richmond, Virginia chapter of Our Revolution called for Stoney and Chief William C. Smith to resign in regards to their handling of the protests.

[72] Several statewide politicians, including Jennifer McClellan and Virginia Attorney General Mark Herring, condemned the use of the Richmond Police's use of tear gas on civilians.

[73][clarification needed] On June 3, 2020, Stoney announced his intention to introduce an ordinance to remove the Confederate statues on Monument Avenue.

[75] Reva Trammell, who represents the 8th district in the city stated that "while many citizens support putting the Confederate statues in a museum, some oppose it.

"[75] On June 16, 2020, Virginia Governor Ralph Northam said he did not support the protesters demands to defund state police, and offered additional reforms instead, which was met with widespread criticism.

[77] On June 23, 2020, rapper and Virginia native Trey Songz called for Stoney to resign due to his appointment of Jody Blackwell as interim Police Chief.

After the protesting and riots for George Floyd, Stoney's administration left the monuments vandalized or destroyed (such as the statue of Christopher Columbus erected by Richmond's Italian-American community).