Guests arrive at a public visitation for George Floyd at the Fountain of Praise Church in Houston, June 8, 2020. (ERIC GAY / AP)

LOS ANGELES - US President Donald Trump's star on Hollywood Boulevard was vandalized with black spray paint during weekend protests over the death of George Floyd, an African American man, in police custody in Minneapolis, US media reported Monday.

Citing multiple social media posts, The Hollywood Reporter said that the president's marker first had messages written on it before being completely spray-painted black with "BLM" - Black Lives Matter - inscribed below.

Citing multiple social media posts, The Hollywood Reporter said that the president's marker first had messages written on it before being completely spray-painted black with "BLM" - Black Lives Matter - inscribed below

Los Angeles police told The Hollywood Reporter that they were unaware of the vandalism and there had been zero complaints reported.

Hollywood area continued to see protests over racism and police brutality in recent days. Around 20,000 protesters took to the streets of Hollywood on Sunday in a largely peaceful protest, which is one of the largest demonstrations in Los Angeles in nearly two weeks.

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Trump's star on Hollywood Boulevard has been vandalized several times since the beginning of his 2016 presidential run. Trump was honored with the star in 2007 for his work producing the Miss Universe pageant and for his hit NBC reality television show The Apprentice. 

Thousands pay tribute

Thousands of mourners braved sweltering Texas heat on Monday to view the casket of Floyd, with American flags fluttering along the route to the Fountain of Praise church in Houston, where Floyd grew up, as throngs of mourners wearing face coverings to prevent spread of the coronavirus formed a procession to pay final respects.

Floyd was due to be buried on Tuesday.

As thousands of mourners went to view the casket of Floyd in Houston, a judge in Minneapolis raised the bail for Derek Chauvin's, the police officer who knelt on Floyd's neck and is charged with second-degree murder, from US$1 million to US$1.25 million

Solemnly filing through the church in two parallel lines, some mourners bowed their heads, others made the sign of the cross or raised a fist, as they paused in front of Floyd's open casket. More than 6,300 people took part in the visitation, which ran for more than six hours, church officials said.

The public viewing came two weeks to the day after Floyd's death was captured by an onlooker's video. As a white police officer knelt on his neck for nearly nine minutes, an unarmed and handcuffed Floyd, 46, lay face down on a Minneapolis street, gasping for air and groaning for help, before falling silent.

As the public viewing unfolded in Houston, Derek Chauvin, 44, the police officer who knelt on Floyd's neck and is charged with second-degree murder, made his first court appearance in Minneapolis by video link. A judge ordered his bail raised from US$1 million to US$1.25 million.

Chauvin's co-defendants, three fellow officers accused of aiding and abetting Floyd's murder, were previously ordered held on US$750,000 to US$1 million bond each.

All four were dismissed from the police department the day after Floyd's death.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi of California, third from left, joins other top Congressional Democrats to attend a news conference to unveil policing reform and equal justice legislation on Capitol Hill in Washington, June 8, 2020. (MANUEL BALCE CENETA / AP)

Congressional Democrats unveil police reform bill

In Washington, Democrats in Congress unveiled legislation to make lynching a federal hate crime and to allow victims of police misconduct and their families to sue law enforcement for damages in civil court, ending a legal doctrine known as qualified immunity.

The bill also would ban chokeholds and require the use of body cameras by federal law enforcement officers, place new restrictions on the use of lethal force and facilitate independent probes of police departments that show patterns of misconduct.

Some departments are already taking action. On Monday, the Los Angeles Police Commission said the city's police department had agreed to an immediate moratorium on training and using chokeholds.

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The legislation does not call for police departments to be de-funded or abolished, as some activists have demanded. But lawmakers called for spending priorities to change.

Trump "is appalled by the defund-the-police movement," White House spokeswoman Kayleigh McEnany said at a media briefing. She said Trump was weighing various proposals in response to Floyd's death.

Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden opposes the movement to defund police departments but supports the "urgent need" for reform, a spokesman for his presidential campaign said.