GREENSBORO, N.C. — Greensboro police tell FOX8 they deployed pepper spray on protestors downtown on Saturday night.

Officers could also be seen standing in front of protestors on Elm Street while wearing riot gear.

Earlier on Saturday through the afternoon and into the evening protestors gathered in Greensboro to protest the death of George Floyd.

“We have to do it in a city like Greensboro because we’re known for empowerment. We’re known for activism. We’re known for organizing,” a protestor in Greensboro told FOX8.

The protest in Greensboro follows other national protests across the US in New York, Detroit and Minneapolis.

“The problem is that there are individuals that are hurt, and the only way to capture that hurt is to see it in a very necessary, grassroots, organized method of protest…we literally are here because you got to take the pain off these pavements. Just the same way that George Floyd’s neck was on the pavement, we are taking the same pain on the pavement, and we’re trying to organize it,” a protestor in Greensboro said.

FOX8’s Michelle Wolf was downtown near the International Civil Rights Center & Museum where she says a group of protestors marched by. Police officers are now standing in front of the building where the front window is shattered.

Greensboro police tell FOX8 they aren’t sure who broke the window.

Around 100 protestors chanted “black lives matter” at the Greensboro Police Department. They stayed there for about an hour around 6 p.m.

“When we say black lives matter, we’re uniting. We’re uniting as a whole, and we just want to be heard,” said Sarah Crowder, a protestor.

Protestors also held a rally at the intersection of East Friendly Avenue and North Davie Street.