Michael Brown, Eric Garner died, protests continue

This 4 December 2014 video from the USA is called Eric Garner death: Fresh protests across US cities: Breaking News.

Eric Garner case: New York protests continue through second night

Marchers take to streets in anger at chokehold verdict, with demonstrations also taking place in other major cities

Oliver Laughland, Kayla Epstein and Jessica Glenza in New York and agencies

Friday 5 December 2014 08.03 GMT

Protesters have swarmed the centre of New York and cities around the US in a second night of largely peaceful protest following the decision not to indict a white New York police officer over the death of Eric Garner, an unarmed black man he placed in a chokehold.

Thousands of marchers proceeded in waves throughout New York City, with one group stopping traffic as they marched from Manhattan to Brooklyn over the Brooklyn Bridge, and some carrying fake coffins with the names of police shooting victims. Groups also congregated at Times Square and at Staten Island ferry terminal.

Protests began during the evening rush hour and the number taking part grew as the night progressed. Many staged so-called “die-ins” at road intersections and were moved along by police in riot gear. A number of arrests were observed by media.

A demonstrator protests at Boston Common in Massachusetts. Photograph: Brian Snyder/Reuters

Protesters briefly closed down the West Side Highway, as they had done on Wednesday night. The crowd there taunted police – Chesray Dolpha, 31, yelled: “We are not violent. We are not touching you. What are you doing with that baton brother?” The police made eye contact but did not reply.

Many protesters continued to chant Garner’s last words: “I can’t breathe.”

At least 3,000 congregated in Times Square about an hour before midnight, shouting at police, “Who do you protect?” as hundreds more officers moved in. There were a number of arrests but no overt outbursts of violence.

At one earlier protest in Union Square hundreds of people burst on to the road and stopped traffic, swarming around NYPD vehicles that had been escorting them. …

Thursday night’s wave of demonstrations brought out many younger protesters. Joel Sati, 21, told the Guardian: “I was out because it was very important to me. I’m a black man and this is something I have to live with. After Ferguson I’ve been thinking a lot about it. We have to be really politically active.”

At the front of the Brooklyn Bridge march were the parents of an NYPD shooting victim. “People are paying attention but it shouldn’t take this for people to pay attention,” said Constance Malcolm. Her son, Ramarley Graham, was shot by police in the Bronx in 2012 after being chased into his home.

“Police need to be held accountable for their action – not put them on desk duty or give them vacation. They need to get fired and go to prison for the crime they commit,” Malcolm said. There is an ongoing federal investigation into Graham’s death.

Sharon Gordon, 52, of Matawan, New Jersey, told the Associated Press she hoped politicians would take heed of the public outcry. “There’s been a confluence of social media and outrage,” she said. “I do believe for the first time we’re about to make a change.”

Protests were reported in other cities including Boston, Chicago and Washington DC.

In New York the largest group of protesters, somewhere between 1,500 and 2,000, was far more organized than the previous night. On Wednesday demonstrators had seemed to roam the streets, intermittently splitting apart and converging to shut down traffic on several important highways and bridges around the traffic-heavy island of Manhattan.

In contrast, on Thursday night a coalition of groups led demonstrators. On the Brooklyn Bridge some organizers wore headsets and stopped marchers for photographers. Police had already closed the Brooklyn-bound side of the bridge when protesters crossed and marchers only appeared to break police lines once.

In a sign that the protests have drawn a diverse array of New Yorkers, the Guardian saw a small group of Jewish protesters in Manhattan’s upper West Side, with the group Jews for Racial and Economic Justice. They carried with them candles covered in paper cups and signs in Hebrew that read “Tzedek Tzedek Tirdof”, meaning “Justice, Justice, you shall pursue”.

Before the Garner decision, unrest had already been occurring on an almost nightly basis in different parts of the US since a grand jury declined last week to indict officer Darren Wilson over the shooting of unarmed teenager, [Michael Brown], in Ferguson, Missouri.

This 5 December 2014 video is called Eric Garner protests continue for a second night in New York and Washington.

See also here.

GARNER PROTESTS SPREAD ACROSS THE COUNTRY “Thousands gathered in New York Thursday for a second day of protests after a grand jury announced its decision not to indict the police officer involved in the death of 43-year-old Eric Garner. Massive crowds of protesters demonstrated in Foley Square, in Lower Manhattan, as well as in major cities, including Chicago, Pittsburgh, Boston and Washington.” The Justice Department released a report yesterday condemning the Cleveland Police Department’s overuse of force. Police departments nationwide are reevaluating tactics, and NYC’s Mayor Bill De Blasio announced the NYPD will undergo a three-day re-training on “smart policing.” [HuffPost]

Ferguson Protest March Ends With Civil Rights Leader Calling for Reforms. Civil rights leader Cornell William Brooks urges the US government to reform the country’s racially biased police, following the week-long protest march across Missouri over Michael Brown‘s killing: here.

Justice for Mike Brown: What you can do! Here are some things you can do to help.

In Ferguson and St. Louis, an Artist’s Quiet Outrage. Damon Davis has long created dynamic works that have helped his divided hometown of St. Louis communicate. In the wake of the Michael Brown case, he’s been called to make art that is itself a form of protest: here.

Ferguson and Garner Cases Hurt U.S. Foreign Policy: here.