SAN JOSE — Hundreds of protesters marched peacefully through downtown San Jose and blocked a street during a rally near City Hall Saturday, demanding sweeping changes to address systemic racism in the wake of the police killing of George Floyd in late May.

Andrea Kennedy, a San Jose resident, urged demonstrators to push municipal leaders to slash funding for the city’s Police Department and demanded that the city redeploy its resources amid claims of police brutality against African Americans and other minorities.

“Defund the police,” Kennedy said to the demonstrators, speaking on a bullhorn to hundreds who were sitting down and blocking the width of East Santa Clara Street at Fourth Street. “San Jose is spending 40 percent of its budget on a police department that is killing us.”

The demonstration in downtown San Jose was one of more than a dozen that were scheduled to occur on Saturday throughout the Bay Area.

After she spoke to the crowd, Kennedy said she believes the city of San Jose has misdirected its resources.

“The police don’t need need to be responding to non-violent situations,” Kennedy said in an interview.

The protesters carried signs that said “Black Lives Matter,” “End Police Brutality,” “Defund the Police,” “Don’t Shoot,” “No Justice No Peace,” “Justice for Floyd,” and “Asians 4 Black Lives.”

The downtown San Jose marchers were walking to the west away from City Hall during the midafternoon on Saturday, but later, the group returned to the municipality’s main complex.

During the afternoon, one group of protestors briefly blocked at least a section of Interstate 280 near South Fourth Street, according to protesters at City Hall.

“The city needs to hear us, they need to listen to us,” Kennedy said.

Throughout the rally, a police presence wasn’t visible.

“We need to change the system,” said Ariel Maestaz, a San Jose resident. “We need to demilitarize and defund the police.”

State Assemblymember Ash Kalra, whose district includes downtown San Jose, East San Jose, the city’s Evergreen district, and parts of South San Jose, spoke during the rally and exhorted those in attendance to become more politically involved.

Mayor Sam Liccardo on Thursday repeated that the San Jose Police Department won’t be defunded amid nationwide protests over police brutality and rising criticism about how law enforcement agencies conduct their tasks.

“San Jose is the most thinly staffed police department of any big city in the country,” Liccardo said. “This is a department that is deeply committed to the accountability of its officers. I don’t believe that defunding police departments is the appropriate response to this crisis.”