Anti-police demos held in 60 US cities

Several hundred Americans took to streets on Wednesday in nearly 60 cities across the United States protesting against police brutality.

The protests were held as part of the event dubbed “National Day of Protest to Stop Police Brutality” which was organized by the Stop Mass Incarceration Network.

In New York, the rally began at Union Square around 1:00 p.m. on Wednesday and marked the death of Eric Garner who was strangled to death by a New York Police Department officer.

Garner was accused of illegally selling cigarettes and died on July 17. His encounter with the police was also caught on tape.

New York protesters were carrying signs showing drawings of victims and branding the NYPD’s behavior unlawful.

Also, demonstrators staged a die-in in Oakland, California and called for reform and justice for those who were brutally killed by police.

“We have to deliver a message today: We refuse to live like this,” said Carl Dix, the co-founder of the Stop Mass Incarceration Network.

In Atlanta, Georgia, demonstrators blocked rush hour traffic downtown where two intestates converge standing before idling cars and trucks.

A wave of high profile fatal police shootings has heated the debate on police brutality in the US. In Ferguson, Missouri, 18-year-old Michael Brown was shot to death by Darren Wilson last month. He was shot at least six times, including twice in the head by the white officer.

US police shoot and kill an average of 1,000 people a year, one in every four of whom are unarmed, according to a report by the Police Policy Studies Council.

AT/GJH