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video will begin momentarily. STORY HIGHLIGHTS. NEW: "They were
standing for my son," Eric Garner's mother tells CNN; Demonstrators
march in Pittsburgh, Boston, Chicago, Washington, D.C.
Sit-ins, die-ins, blockades in American cities not just about Eric Garner
updated 12:50 PM EST, Fri December 5, 2014
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STORY HIGHLIGHTS
- NEW: "They were standing for my son," Eric Garner's mother tells CNN
- Demonstrators march in Pittsburgh, Boston, Chicago, Washington, D.C. and New York
- Demonstrators block a major road in Chicago, stage "die-ins" in Manhattan, St. Louis
- Protests came after jury opted not to indict a policeman who put Eric Garner in a chokehold
Protests in the growing
movement against police brutality are on tap in at least dozens
communities across the nation on Friday, with more planned over the
weekend.
On Thursday, marchers in
Dallas, Boston, Chicago and Manhattan screamed for justice for Eric
Garner and others killed, protesters say, without cause by police.
The protests erupted in
response to the decision Wednesday by a New York grand jury not to
charge police Officer Daniel Pantaleo in Garner's death after his arrest
captured on cell-phone video.
They came a week after
another decision not to indict by a grand jury in St. Louis County,
Missouri, examining the death of African-American teenager Michael Brown
by a white police officer.
In New York, protesters
angry over the Garner decision blocked the Holland Tunnel connecting
Manhattan with New Jersey, stopped traffic on the Broadway and clogged
West Side Highway in Manhattan near 10th Street, CNN affiliate WABC reported.
"I'm out here because the system has failed us too many times," Courtney Wicker, a New York protester, told CNN affiliate NY1. "It makes me feel like there's no justice."
Dozens sat down in an
intersection, blocking traffic. Others patiently waited as police almost
gently put them in plastic handcuffs and walked them off the streets.
More than 200 people were arrested, police said.
Among the motorists stuck in protest traffic was Garner's mother, Gwen Carr.
"I was so thrilled, so thrilled, even to be held up in traffic," she said on CNN's "New Day."
"They were standing for my son. I thank them so very much," she said.
Growing movement
The demand for change in
how law enforcement deals with minorities has been broad, with hundreds
of protests involving untold thousands of demonstrators from coast to
coast, in towns both large and small.
"It's happening in every city, every town. It's happening here in Pittsburgh," Julia Johnson told CNN affiliate WPXI.
In New York, protest
signs reading "Racism kills" and "The whole damn system is guilty as
hell," told of the crowd's frustrations.
A young white marcher said "the criminalization of black youth in America needs to end."
"It's time that we say we're fed up and this needs to change," the marcher said.
The show of solidarity
touched Cornell Belcher, a Democratic pollster, who is African-American.
He was feeling down after the Staten Island grand jury declined to
press charges.
"After the decision, I
think some of us were so fallen," he said, making a gesture of his chest
caving in. "But then, when you see this diverse group of people sort of
gathering together and saying this is fundamentally unfair and taking
to the streets, it sort of reconfirms our faith in our society, in our
values," he told CNN's Anderson Cooper late Thursday.
Boston, Chicago, Dallas, Oakland
In Boston, a diverse crowd turned the annual Christmas tree lighting into its protest late Thursday.
"Black lives matter!" protesters chanted. "We can't breathe!"
They stopped a train line and blocked nearby highways.
In Oakland, California,
protesters marched to the Fruitvale rail station, where on New Year's
Day 2009, a white officer killed Oscar Grant, a 22-year-old unarmed
black man.
In Chicago, a small group of protesters stood in tense stalemate with police, who tried to keep them from blocking a street.
Protesters stopped a
line of train service, and they blocked the Massachusetts Turnpike and
Interstate 93. State troopers went in to escort them out. Authorities
detained several people, CNN affiliate WCVB reported.
Video from Dallas showed a few dozen protesters blocking an interstate late Thursday.
They were quickly surrounded by squad cars, some were arrested.
Tense moments during protests in Chicago
1960s style methods
In many respects, the
mostly peaceful protests shared many similarities with the protests of
the Civil Rights era -- marches, signs, civil disobedience.
One Asian-American
protester felt inspired by the 1960s marches, but said she believes that
struggle shows change will take a long time.
"If you think about the
civil rights movement, it took 10 years for anything to happen between
the protests and the boycotts of the buses to the actual Civil Rights
Act," she said.
Author and CNN
commentator Michaela Angela Davis was marching in a mixed crowd of
mostly white students chanting "black lives matter."
The blocked streets didn't bother her so much. It's democracy, she said.
"I feel like we are seeing the American project at work. It is messy; it is difficult."
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