People swarmed the streets of New York and other cities for a second night to protest a grand jury’s decision not to indict a white police officer in the death of an unarmed black man.
The wave of protests began after no charges were brought against Officer Daniel Pantaleo for his role in a confrontation that killed Eric Garner. A bystander caught the incident on a video that has been shown repeatedly.
The reaction echoes the outrage after a grand jury also declined to indict a white policeman for killing an unarmed black teenager in Ferguson, Missouri. U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder has mounted a civil rights review of the Missouri shooting and promised a full investigation of the New York case.
The protests began during at the evening rush hour, with demonstrators weaving between cars and trucks and bringing traffic on city streets to a near-standstill. The marches picked up recruits along the way, shifted directions, splintered and regrouped, but remained relatively peaceful for a second night.
Tensions came as at least 3,000 protesters converged in Times Square about an hour before midnight. Blocking the major interaction of 42nd Street and Seventh Avenue, they chanted at police, “Who do you protect?” Soon hundreds of officers shoved them on to sidewalks. Dozens were detained, although police declined to provide exact tallies.
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