Protests break out across NINETY cities as thousands march in anger over grand jury decision that Officer Darren Wilson won't face charges in the death of Michael BrownBy
DAVID MCCORMACK FOR MAILONLINE and
ASSOCIATED PRESS REPORTERPUBLISHED: 01:32 GMT, 25 November 2014 | UPDATED: 15:16 GMT, 25 November 2014
Protests break out across NINETY cities as thousands march in anger over grand jury decision that Officer Darren Wilson won't face charges in the death of Michael Brown- Protesters in New York marched over the Brooklyn, Manhattan and Triboro bridges closed down traffic
- Demonstrations took place in cities including Chicago, Seattle, Washington DC, LA, Boston and Philadelphia
- Officer Darren Wilson will not be charged over the shooting death of Michael Brown
- Not long after Monday night's verdict, President Barack Obama appealed for calm and understanding
- In New York several thousand people marched from Union Square to Times Square in protest
- In Oakland, California, dozens of protesters blocked traffic on a major highway in the Bay Area
- Police elsewhere have reported that the protests have been large and loud but mainly peaceful
Demonstrators angered by at the grand jury decision in the Darren Wilson case took to the streets in 90 cities from coast to coast Monday night, snarling traffic, chanting slogans condemning police and waving signs in support of slain black teen Michael Brown.
In New York City, Los Angeles, Washington, D.C., Boston and Chicago, thousands of people led marches screaming, 'Hands up! Don't shoot!' that has become a rallying cry in protests over police killings across the country.
The protests around the country were largely peaceful, but several demonstrations were marred by foul-mouthed verbal attacks on police and arrests.
Photos and videos spread around social media showing protesters walking down traffic lanes on three New York City bridges.
A line of NYPD officers attempted to push protesters off the RFK/Triboro Bridge, with reports that cops were threatening to arrest protesters around 1:25 AM early Tuesday.
Several thousand more people had marched from Union Square to Times Square to protest. Crowds had gathered on the plaza on Monday evening awaiting the decision, but once it was announced protesters mobilized and began marching north.
People held up signs reading 'Black lives matter' and 'Jail killer cops,' and chanted 'Hands up, don't shoot' and 'No justice, no peace' as they walked to Times Square, reports NBC4.
Activists had been planning to protest even before the night-time announcement that Officer Darren Wilson will not be charged in the shooting death of Michael Brown.
The racially charged case in Ferguson has inflamed tensions and reignited debates over police-community relations even in cities hundreds of miles from the predominantly black St. Louis suburb.
For many staging protests Monday, the shooting was personal, calling to mind other galvanizing encounters with local law enforcement.
Police departments in several major cities said they were bracing for large demonstrations with the potential for the kind of violence that marred nightly protests in Ferguson after Brown's killing.
Demonstrators there vandalized police cars, hugged barricades and taunted officers with expletives Monday night while police fired smoke canisters and pepper spray. Gunshots were heard on the streets.
But police elsewhere reported that gatherings were mostly peaceful immediately following Monday's announcement.
Other signs included pictures of both Michael Brown and Eric Garner, the local Staten Island man who died in July after being put in a choke hold by police during an arrest.
Protesters were penned in an area at the northern end of the square, behind a ring of police officers. They pushed the metal police barriers aside and yelled, 'No justice, no peace, no racist police.'
On a night marked by largely peaceful demonstrations, violence broke out not far from Ferguson leaving a police officer wounded.
The unnamed law enforcement official was shot in the arm just before midnight in University city, five miles south of Ferguson. He was taken to a local hospital with non life-threatening injuries, and he is expected to make a full recovery.
The official Twitter account of the St. Louis County Police Department confirmed the shooting, which reportedly took place at approximately 11:30 p.m.
'A U. City police officer has been shot. Condition is unknown. Search for suspect underway. It is unclear if related to #FergusonDecision,' the account wrote.
During an early morning press conference, St. Louis Co. Police Chief Jon Belmar said that as far as he was aware, the shooting was 'totally unrelated' to the Ferguson protests and that his heart goes out to the officer's family.
In Oakland, California, dozens of people protesting the Ferguson grand jury decision had gotten around police and blocked traffic on a major highway in the Bay Area.
Television images showed people milling around cars, raising their hands in the air, and holding signs on Interstate 580.
A coalition of groups called the Ferguson National Response Network and Ferguson Action organized demonstrations in some 90 cities across 34 states and Canada for the night of the announcement, according to
Bloomberg.
Not long after Monday night's verdict, President Barack Obama appealed for calm and understanding - pleading with both residents and police officers to show restraint.
'We are a nation built on the rule of law, so we need to accept that this decision was the grand jury's to make,' Obama said. He said it was understandable that some Americans would be 'deeply disappointed - even angered,' but echoed Brown's parents in calling for any protests to be peaceful.
In a late-night statement from the White House, Obama also urged Americans not to deny recent progress in race relations in the U.S., the protests in Ferguson notwithstanding. He called for the public to accept the grand jury's decision and to refocus on ways to make more progress in bringing police and their communities together.
'That won't be done by throwing bottles. That won't be done by smashing car windows. That won't be done by using this as an excuse to vandalize property,' Obama said. 'It certainly won't be done by hurting anybody.'
Cities including Seattle, Washington and Boston, Massachusetts, held protests as well as much smaller cities like Meadville, Pennsylvania, and Longview, Texas.
Protesters in both Boston and Seattle observed the 4.5 minutes of silence that the Brown family requested after the decision was announced, with protesters in Boston then marching from City Hall to the statehouse.
In Los Angeles, which was rocked by riots in 1992 after the acquittal of police officers in the videotaped beating of Rodney King, police officers were told to remain on duty until released by their supervisors.
About 100 people gathered in Leimert Park - a predominantly African-American neighborhood - while others held a small news conference demanding changes in police policies. A splinter group of about 30 people broke away and marched through surrounding streets, blocking intersections, but the demonstrations remained mostly small and peaceful.
Squad cars could be seen with their lights flashing outside the Santa Monica Town Hall as around 30 protesters held up provocative hand-made signs.
Several protesters had signs that read 'State Sanctioned Murder', 'Fight Racism Like Ferguson', 'No Racist Police', 'Police Violence Must Stop' and 'Honk for Justice Don't be Silent' as commuters made their way home at night.
At least 50 demonstrators tried to walk onto the Santa Monica Freeway from an off-ramp to block traffic, but they peacefully obeyed orders from California Highway Patrol officers to turn back, CHP spokesman Edgar Figueroa said.
A 'handful' of protesters who apparently climbed up from another direction managed to dash the freeway as police were arriving on the scene, Figueroa said. No one was injured and there were no arrests, but the freeway was shut down in both directions for about 10 minutes until the incident was over, he said.
About 100 people holding signs that read 'The People Say Guilty!' blocked an intersection in downtown Oakland, California, after a line of police officers stopped them from getting on a highway on-ramp. Minutes earlier, some of the protesters lay on the ground while others outlined their bodies in chalk. A similar scene unfolded in Seattle as dozens of police officers watched.
In Philadelphia, several hundred people chanting, 'No justice, no peace,' marched through the neighborhoods of Center city, Chinatown, Queens Village, Rittenhouse and Penn's Landing, reported NBC Philadelphia.
Some demonstrators hurled profanities at police officers monitoring the demonstration, but it remained largely peaceful.
'Mike Brown is an emblem (of a movement). This country is at its boiling point,' said Ethan Jury, a protester in Philadelphia. 'How many people need to die? How many black people need to die?'
Chris Manor, with Utah Against Police Brutality, helped organize an event in Salt Lake City that attracted about 35 people.
'There are things that have affected us locally, but at the same time, it's important to show solidarity with people in other cities who are facing the very
In Denver, where a civil jury last month found deputies used excessive force in the death of a homeless street preacher, clergy gathered at a church to discuss the decision, and dozens of people rallied in a downtown park with a moment of silence.
In Chicago, demonstrators walked up Lake Shore Drive carrying banners that read 'Justice for Mike Brown' and marched from the city's police headquarters toward downtown after hearing the Ferguson decision, using profanity but causing no damage. Police on bicycles, horseback and in squad cars closed portions of roads along the protesters' route.
Hundreds of demonstrators in Washington DC, many of them Howard University students, marched down the middle of U Street Northwest after the grand jury's verdict.
At Cleveland's Public Square, at least a dozen protesters held signs on Monday afternoon and chanted 'Hands up, don't shoot,' which has become a rallying cry since the Ferguson shooting.
Their signs referenced police shootings that had shaken the community there, including Saturday's fatal shooting of 12-year-old Tamir Rice, who had a fake gun at a Cleveland playground when officers confronted him.
Los Angeles Community activist Najee Ali said he met with police last week to discuss plans for a peaceful gathering in response to the Ferguson decision.
The plans include having community members identify any 'agitators' who may be inciting violence so officers can remove them from the crowd, he said.
'It was kind of unprecedented,' Ali said of the meeting. 'We never collaborate with the LAPD. They do what they do, and we do what we do.'
But since violence erupted at the city's rallies protesting the shooting of 17-year-old Trayvon Martin in Florida, Ali said there was an effort to avoid repeat problems.
'We told them our plans of protest and we were demanding our First Amendment rights be protected,' Ali said. 'They said they're taking a hands-off approach,' but they'd be in the wings if outside agitators try to stir up violence in the crowds.
Boston Police Commissioner William Evans released a statement, asking for students to protest peacefully after the announcement.
'We are asking students to be mindful that there may be outside agitators trying to provoke and instigate otherwise peaceful protests. I ask that if public demonstrations occur as a result of the decision they are done with respect to our neighbors and businesses, responsibly and peacefully,' he said.
Read more:
Ferguson Demonstrations Set for Federal Courthouses Across U.S. - Bloomberg
Over 1,000 in NYC Protest Ferguson Decision | NBC New York
Protestors Take to Philly Streets After Ferguson Grand Jury Decision | NBC 10 Philadelphia