NICOSIA, Cyprus — About 250 people demonstrated peacefully outside the U.S. embassy in the Cypriot capital Nicosia to denounce what they said were the “social and racial inequalities” at the root of protests triggered by the death of George Floyd at the hands of a white police officer.

Demonstrators wore masks and kept several feet apart in line with social distancing rules. They held placards reading, “We say no to racism, solidarity is our weapon,” and chanted slogans including “Power to the people, united we breathe.”

Police observed Friday’s hour-long protest from a distance as demonstrators knelt and held out clenched fists in a show of solidarity with protesters in the U.S.

The protest was organized by EDON, the youth wing of Cyprus’ communist-rooted party AKEL. EDON Central Committee member Christoforos Pittara decried what he called the endemic racial inequality that still plagues the U.S. and criticized President Donald Trump for resorting to racist rhetoric.

Pittara said justice for George Floyd isn’t enough and must be served for a “chain of murders” whose victims were not only African Americans, but the poor and dispossessed irrespective of race, creed or color.