Tens of Thousands March in New York to Protest Police Violence
By BENJAMIN MUELLER and ASHLEY SOUTHALL
New York Times
DEC. 13, 2014
Tens of thousands of people marched through Manhattan on Saturday, police officials said, in the largest protest in the city since a grand jury declined this month to indict an officer in the death of an unarmed black man on Staten Island.
Just before 2 p.m. they began spilling out of Washington Square Park, and after an hour and a half, the park still had not emptied. Walking north toward 34th Street, the protesters filled the cold air by chanting “I can’t breathe,” the last words of Eric Garner, the Staten Island man, who died from a chokehold after an officer dragged him to the ground on a hot day in July.
The protest, which at times stretched for over 20 blocks, highlighted growing anger nationwide over recent police deaths, including that of Mr. Garner, 43, who officers accused of selling loose, untaxed cigarettes.
The march was led by the families of a number of unarmed black men who died at the hands of police officers, including Ramarley Graham and Sean Bell, who were both killed in New York City.
But protesters insisted that the movement was as much about those deaths as it was about the daily indignity of being confronted by the police for, they said, little to no reason.
Denise Mayer, 64, of Montclair, N.J., said she had marched in protests over the Vietnam War, but that this movement was different.
“This is more of an everyday frustration that the violence seems to be escalating,” she said, holding a poster of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. “It’s beyond frustration. As an individual, what do I do?”
The protesters moved through the streets, pushing children in strollers, waving black liberation flags and carrying signs. They also chanted “hands up, don’t shoot,” the rallying cry in Ferguson, Mo., over the police shooting death in August of another unarmed black man, Michael Brown, 18. At several points, the crowd extended for over a mile and a half.
“A young black man in America shouldn’t be scared to interact with the police or talk with the police,” another protester, Jelanie Deshong, 22, said.
In some places, revelers participating in SantaCon, an annual pub crawl in which people dress as Santa Claus, crossed paths with the march. Many only glanced at the procession and hurried away. But near Herald Square, several people dressed in Santa costumes joined the crowd, with one holding his hands in the air and shouting, “Hands up, don’t shoot!”
The protest was followed widely on Twitter, where marchers shared their experiences. One image showed a protester who had removed his sweatshirt, revealing a rope noose tied around his neck and “#past or #present?” written on his torso.
As dusk descended and the march moved south toward New York Police Headquarters in Lower Manhattan, a group of around 100 protesters, many of whom wore scarfs and bandannas over their faces, slipped away from the crowd on 32nd Street. They hurled traffic cones and trash cans at police cars, and beat their fists against the cars’ windows. “Whose streets? Our streets!” they shouted.
As officers tried to pen them in, the group rejoined the crowd on Broadway.
As of 11 p.m., the police said they had not made any arrests along the march route.
The march stopped in front of Police Headquarters, with protesters screaming at the assembled officers and beating on drums.
Several relatives of those who had been killed by police officers addressed the crowd. Among them was Constance Malcolm, the mother of Ramarley Graham, who was unarmed when he was shot and killed in the bathroom of his Bronx apartment in 2012.
“We must get justice for our loved ones,” she said.
Some protesters who broke away from the crowd gathered around Police Headquarters in an effort to stop traffic along the Brooklyn Bridge, but they were countered by hundreds of police officers who tried to divert them.
In a call-and-response with the demonstrators, an organizer shouted, “Are we done yet? No! Shut this city down.”
After the rally had run its scheduled course, protesters continued on, marching over the bridge. They brought traffic from Manhattan to a stop, and unfurled a banner reading, “When we breathe, we breathe together.” At the foot of the bridge, they locked arms and formed a chain across the traffic lanes. As police officers arrived from several directions, the demonstrators continued into Brooklyn, many miles and several hours from where they had begun.
Dan Glaun and Colin Moynihan contributed reporting.
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| Tens of thousands marched through Manhattan on Dec. 13, 2014. |
New York Times
DEC. 13, 2014
Tens of thousands of people marched through Manhattan on Saturday, police officials said, in the largest protest in the city since a grand jury declined this month to indict an officer in the death of an unarmed black man on Staten Island.
Just before 2 p.m. they began spilling out of Washington Square Park, and after an hour and a half, the park still had not emptied. Walking north toward 34th Street, the protesters filled the cold air by chanting “I can’t breathe,” the last words of Eric Garner, the Staten Island man, who died from a chokehold after an officer dragged him to the ground on a hot day in July.
The protest, which at times stretched for over 20 blocks, highlighted growing anger nationwide over recent police deaths, including that of Mr. Garner, 43, who officers accused of selling loose, untaxed cigarettes.
The march was led by the families of a number of unarmed black men who died at the hands of police officers, including Ramarley Graham and Sean Bell, who were both killed in New York City.
But protesters insisted that the movement was as much about those deaths as it was about the daily indignity of being confronted by the police for, they said, little to no reason.
Denise Mayer, 64, of Montclair, N.J., said she had marched in protests over the Vietnam War, but that this movement was different.
“This is more of an everyday frustration that the violence seems to be escalating,” she said, holding a poster of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. “It’s beyond frustration. As an individual, what do I do?”
The protesters moved through the streets, pushing children in strollers, waving black liberation flags and carrying signs. They also chanted “hands up, don’t shoot,” the rallying cry in Ferguson, Mo., over the police shooting death in August of another unarmed black man, Michael Brown, 18. At several points, the crowd extended for over a mile and a half.
“A young black man in America shouldn’t be scared to interact with the police or talk with the police,” another protester, Jelanie Deshong, 22, said.
In some places, revelers participating in SantaCon, an annual pub crawl in which people dress as Santa Claus, crossed paths with the march. Many only glanced at the procession and hurried away. But near Herald Square, several people dressed in Santa costumes joined the crowd, with one holding his hands in the air and shouting, “Hands up, don’t shoot!”
The protest was followed widely on Twitter, where marchers shared their experiences. One image showed a protester who had removed his sweatshirt, revealing a rope noose tied around his neck and “#past or #present?” written on his torso.
As dusk descended and the march moved south toward New York Police Headquarters in Lower Manhattan, a group of around 100 protesters, many of whom wore scarfs and bandannas over their faces, slipped away from the crowd on 32nd Street. They hurled traffic cones and trash cans at police cars, and beat their fists against the cars’ windows. “Whose streets? Our streets!” they shouted.
As officers tried to pen them in, the group rejoined the crowd on Broadway.
As of 11 p.m., the police said they had not made any arrests along the march route.
The march stopped in front of Police Headquarters, with protesters screaming at the assembled officers and beating on drums.
Several relatives of those who had been killed by police officers addressed the crowd. Among them was Constance Malcolm, the mother of Ramarley Graham, who was unarmed when he was shot and killed in the bathroom of his Bronx apartment in 2012.
“We must get justice for our loved ones,” she said.
Some protesters who broke away from the crowd gathered around Police Headquarters in an effort to stop traffic along the Brooklyn Bridge, but they were countered by hundreds of police officers who tried to divert them.
In a call-and-response with the demonstrators, an organizer shouted, “Are we done yet? No! Shut this city down.”
After the rally had run its scheduled course, protesters continued on, marching over the bridge. They brought traffic from Manhattan to a stop, and unfurled a banner reading, “When we breathe, we breathe together.” At the foot of the bridge, they locked arms and formed a chain across the traffic lanes. As police officers arrived from several directions, the demonstrators continued into Brooklyn, many miles and several hours from where they had begun.
Dan Glaun and Colin Moynihan contributed reporting.
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