Protests continue over the grand jury decision not to indict a New York City police officer for Eric Garner’s death. Monday began with a sit-in on the Verrazano Bridge that blocked morning rush-hour traffic between Brooklyn and Staten Island. Protesters carried signs reading “Eric Garner,” “Mike Brown” and “Black Lives Matter.” Later in the day, dozens of people including city council-members staged a “die-in” on the steps of City Hall. And at night, hundreds of people gathered outside an NBA basketball game at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, blocking traffic and marching for several hours.
Jawole Zollar: “I think that we’ve just reached a tipping point where people are pissed, and I think, as young people, and for the most part they are peaceful, and they’re organized in a powerful way. And I think it’s very heartening to me to see it.”
Damon Davis: “I’m out here in solidarity with these people, for their struggle. It’s the same as it is in St. Louis. A lot of us came down, because it’s just like people from New York came to St. Louis, so we’re just standing together with the people.”
The protest continued long after the game as demonstrators marched into a nearby shopping center and then across the bridge into the streets of Manhattan.