Demonstrators nationwide made sure the community in Ferguson, Mo. isn’t standing alone in their call to indict the justice system that allowed a white police officer to kill an unarmed black teenager yet again.
Tuesday night, the day after Prosecuting Attorney Robert McCulloch announced that a grand jury failed to bring charges against Ferguson police officer Darren Wilson, at least 37 states held planned demonstrations in the name of Michael Brown and others who have been killed by police brutality in recent months.
In fact, protests went off in more than 170 U.S. cities Tuesday night — an unprecedented demonstration to denounce police violence and systematic racism.
In New York, Boston, Los Angeles, Chicago, Washington D.C. and more, protestors shut down highways, tunnels, and bridges, marching well into the night even in freezing temperatures.
In New York, protestors managed to shut down FDR Drive, the Lincoln Tunnel, blocked traffic on the Williamsburg and Manhattan Bridges, and showed up in huge numbers in the infamous Time Square, before groups walked to Brooklyn and Harlem for moments of silence.
In Boston, state police say 51 people were arrested after an estimated 1,500 marched from Dudley Square in Roxbury down Massachusetts Avenue to the South Bay. Authorities say a state trooper was hurt when he was bitten on the wrist by a protestor, but by and large, demonstrations remained peaceful.
Protestors in Los Angeles shut down a stretch of the 101 Freeway in both directions by taking road blocks from the streets and placing them on the freeway.
And in Chicago, nearly 200 members of the Black Youth Project staged a sit-in outside Mayor Rahm Emanuel’s office.
Sadly, a hit-and-run marred protestors’ spirits in Minneapolis, after a 40-year-old man from St. Paul plowed through a group of demonstrators Tuesday afternoon.
From the Star Tribune:
A Star Tribune reporter who is at the rally says that witnesses say the vehicle started honking at protesters blocking the intersection before running down a woman around the start of the rally at 4:30 p.m.
In video from KSTP’s Chopper 5, the involved vehicle goes around another stopped car and into the crowd as other vehicles go around the crowd. People appear to get on the hood of the car as it pushes its way through the crowd and it hits and appears to run over the legs of a demonstrator.
In video captured by Star Tribune videographer Mark Vancleave, what appears to be a dark-colored Subaru Outback is seen driving with a few people clinging to its hood as it pushes and then apparently runs over a victim’s leg. Protesters rush the vehicle with some people hitting its windows and windshield before it takes off.
The woman was treated for injuries and the driver is said to be in custody.
In Ferguson, police arrested 40 people for protesting, but this time, the solidarity could be felt around America.
Here are some other demonstrations that took place Tuesday night:
We have shut down 6th ave. Enough is enough! #FergusonDecision #JusticeForMikeBrown pic.twitter.com/QnIjNecOp1
— Paola Mendoza (@paolamendoza) November 26, 2014
Highway blocked by protesters in Rhode Island #FergusonDecision #BlackLivesMatter #Ferguson pic.twitter.com/6992Fh5R8j
— Revolution News (@NewsRevo) November 26, 2014
It’s shut down! #Crenshaw #LosAngeles #Ferguson pic.twitter.com/2ssgNR2ThM
— Jasmyne Cannick (@jasmyne) November 25, 2014
Bowie State Students Are Remaining In The Street For 4 1/2 Hours. The Same Amount Of Time As Mike Browns Body✊ pic.twitter.com/MZK7Tpz5fA
— Lesley Alexis (@BankRoll_Lo) November 25, 2014
Staging a sit in the intersection #FergusonNYCpic.twitter.com/bS57DeNJw4
— Ashley (@ashdollarsign) November 26, 2014
SOURCE: CBS, CNN, Twitter, Star Tribune | PHOTO CREDIT: Getty
