In response to police killings of unarmed Black men, hundreds of people right now are protesting in New York City – including shutting down major roads and bridges.
Via Reuters:
Some 250 placard-bearing activists organized by the Stop Mass Incarceration Network marched from Union Square to protest the latest incidents of violent police tactics used against minorities.
“Stop murder by police” and “Stop killer cops,” the signs read, as a helicopter hovered over protesters facing off against police officers.
Galvanizing their cause was the April 4 fatal shooting of Walter Scott, an unarmed black man shot in the back by a white police officer in North Charleston, South Carolina.
The shooting was captured on video, and the officer has been charged with murder.
Family members of several unarmed black or Hispanic men or boys who died in encounters with police called for more oversight.
“What this protest right here is about is that too many are being murdered,” said Nicholas Heyward Sr., whose son Nicholas Heyward Jr. was shot dead at age 13 in public housing by a police officer 20 years ago while playing cops and robbers with a toy gun.
“I have been fighting for the last 20 years to get that case reopened,” he said.
“It’s painful because not only do I have to wait but while I’m waiting, I am constantly seeing innocent victims gunned down on the street for no reason at all.”
Other protests across New York City and in other cities across the nation are reportedly taking place as well.
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Image by Ben Fractenberg via TwitterÂ
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