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A
wave of peaceful protests, aimed at denouncing police violence, swept across
the US on Saturday, with the number of protesters peaking in Los Angeles, where
there were over 5,000 in the “Millions March for First Amendment Rights.”
“Hands
up, don’t shoot”, “Black
lives matter” and “No
justice, no peace,” – these mottos united demonstrations that took
place in several major American cities – Los Angeles, New York and Ferguson,
where there have been several cases of fatal shooting by the police.
The
protesters were calling for justice for those killed by police – Michael Brown
(Ferguson) and Eric Garner (New York), as well as Ezell Ford and Omar Abrego
(both from Los Angeles) among them.
“Every
28 hours a person is killed in the United States by a police officer or
authority figure or vigilante, and nothing stops for them,”
Kirbie Joseph, an organizer of the march in New York, told The New York Times. “Everything goes business as usual, and so
we can’t stop.”
In Los Angeles, over 5,000
activists, students and even celebrities participated, making police shut down
streets on the proposed route of the march, as a safety measure.
The protest
was peaceful and no arrests were made, but a car hit a demonstrator, according
to RT’s RUPTLY video agency. Twitter users reported the protester didn’t
require medical aid.
The
city of Ferguson is a “triggering town”, where protest broke out the day
after the fatal shooting of Michael Brown this August. The grand jury decision "not
to indict Wilson," the police officer who killed the unarmed black
teenager, unleashed a torrent of demonstrations across the whole country in November,
also registering public reaction around the globe – in the UK and Japan.
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