Peter Moskowitz
Al Jazeera
March 31, 2014
Protesting what they say is a consistently and increasingly violent police force, hundreds marched through the streets of Albuquerque, N.M., on Sunday, blocking traffic and shouting slogans. A social media campaign, which included an apparent hours-long takedown of the Albuquerque Police Department’s webpage by the activist group Anonymous, coincided with the offline events.
The protests came a little more than a week after a video posted to YouTube by local TV station KQRE showed the city’s police department fatally shooting James Boyd, a 38-year-old homeless man who was confronted by Albuquerque Police Department officers for camping in an unauthorized section of the city’s foothills.
The video, which has drawn nearly 900,000 views, was taken by a lapel camera worn by an APD officer, and showed a defiant Boyd talking to police from a distance. At one point an officer throws a flashbang, or a stun grenade, at Boyd, who then, according to police, pulled out a knife. Then, several shots are fired into Boyd’s back, and he falls to the ground.
Watch Alex Jones’ special report on why the killing of James Boyd illustrates the out of control militarization of America’s police forces.
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