On Saturday tens of thousands of people across the United States participated in marches and rallies against police brutality. The corporate media largely ignored the protests as they continued into the evening in New York, Oakland, Los Angeles, Houston, Chicago, Cleveland, Boston, Ferguson, Missouri, Washington D.C. and several others.
The protests are calling attention to police violence after several recent high profile killings in Ferguson, Cleveland, and New York. Family members of Michael Brown, Eric Garner, Tamir Rice, Akai Gurley, and John Crawford – all killed at the hands of the police – attend the “Justice for All” rally in Washington D.C.
In New York Luke Rudkowski of We Are Change reported an estimated 50,000 people.
NYPD says there’s 50,000 to 60,000 protestors RIGHT NOW in NYC #MillionsMarchNYC
#MillionsMarchNYC protesters have just shut down the brooklyn bridge pic.twitter.com/kd9hRkapSW
— Luke Rudkowski (@Lukewearechange) December 14, 2014
In Washington D.C. protesters also numbered in the thousands.
People as far as the eye can see: #DC #Justice4All pic.twitter.com/XBUT2ZbCTQ — Alejandro Alvarez (@aletweetsnews) December 13, 2014
Arrests in Chicago.
Protestors try to take to streets. At least 3 arrests. #MillionsMarchChi #BlackLivesMatter @ChicagoRising pic.twitter.com/8K8iJ0U76p — Caroline Siede (@CarolineSiede) December 13, 2014
The scene in Boston.
Riot cops outside of the jail are being instructed to put their face shields down. #BlackLivesMatter #boston pic.twitter.com/SZ8WpdVwWO
— Andrew Sowle (@swerdna1121) December 13, 2014
In Houston several arrests were made after protesters attempted to slow or stop traffic near the busy Galleria mall.
The Christian Science Monitor also reports that activists have been “protesting” heavily online as well.
The activist organization Change.org reports that so far this year, 622 online petitions have been started about police violence, which have attracted a total of 1.1 million signatures – considerably more than the 217 petitions in 2013.
These petitions have included support for federal funding for body cameras; a call for NYPD officer Daniel Pantaleo, the man who choked Eric Garner to death, to be fired; and a petition called for an end of the militarization of the police.
As the daylight faded New York protesters marched down the Brooklyn Bridge temporarily halting traffic.
As protests continued in Oakland, the mother of murdered Oscar Grant told protesters: “We want officers to be held accountable for their actions… [to] feel that pain just as we have to feel it.”
