Protesters in northern California hurled objects at police, who responded by firing tear gas for a second consecutive night, as demonstrations continued over a grand jury’s decision in the death of a black man after he was put in a chokehold by a police officer in New York. The officer will not face charges.
A crowd of about 750 people occupied freeway overpasses at two sites in Berkeley, near San Francisco, prompting police to attempt to clear the roadways and to arrest several people.
The California Highway Patrol’s Golden Gate division said on Twitter that tear gas was fired after some demonstrators began hurling objects it described as unspecified “explosives,” and arrests had been made, but exact numbers were not available.
Photo: Reuters
Some demonstrators tweeted that police had fired rubber bullets, but this could not be confirmed.
US west coast cities had braced for trouble after clashes in Berkeley and Seattle, Washington, on Saturday. Protesters in New York and other cities have staged demonstrations every day since a grand jury’s decision on Wednesday last week to not bring criminal charges against a police officer whose chokehold contributed to the man’s death in New York in July.
Saturday’s alleged looting and rock-throwing on the west coast contrasted with the mostly peaceful demonstrations that have taken place elsewhere. New York was quieter over the weekend.
Photo: Reuters
The killings of Eric Garner in New York and Michael Brown, an unarmed black teen, in Ferguson, Missouri, have highlighted the strained relations between police and African-Americans and rekindled a national debate over US race relations.
The decision by a grand jury not to return an indictment in Brown’s killing ignited two nights of demonstrations that led to arson and rioting in the St Louis suburbs.
Earlier on Sunday evening, hundreds of protesters began marching down a main thoroughfare in Berkeley after massing on the campus of the University of California.
Berkeley Police Department Officer Jenn Coats said the crowd of less than 600 was peaceful.
On Saturday evening, what had begun as a peaceful march ended in an extended confrontation between demonstrators and police, resulting in six arrests, damage to local businesses and a minor injury to a police officer.
“There were definitely a group of people that were intent on violence,” Coats said.
In downtown Seattle, about 200 people gathered, a day after a demonstration drew more than 1,000 protesters, with some allegedly throwing rocks and attacking police in clashes that resulted in seven arrests. Their numbers had dwindled to about 60 by 10pm with one arrest.
New York Police Commissioner Bill Bratton said on Sunday that the department’s internal investigation into Garner’s death could last four months.
He said he would review the results to decide whether officers involved in Garner’s arrest had violated department policy.
The US Department of Justice is doing its own investigation.
In Chicago, church-affiliated protesters marched through the city, carrying signs and chanting: “I can’t breathe” and “Hands up, don’t shoot,” television news footage showed.
Protesters in Miami blocked a portion of Interstate 195 on Sunday afternoon, clogging traffic to the Art Basel show in Miami Beach, CBS-TV Miami reported.
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