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Photo via Introvert/Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 2.5) | Remix by Rob Price

Eric Garner activists disrupt trains in Berkeley on third night of protests

Anger over the lack of an indictment continues to spread.

 

Rob Price

IRL

Posted on Dec 9, 2014   Updated on May 30, 2021, 1:00 am CDT

Protests continued to rage in Berkeley, Calif., on Monday night, with demonstrators lying on train tracks and blocking roads following sometimes violent clashes with police over the past few days.

Frustrated by the failure of two grand juries to indict police officers in the killings of unarmed black men, hundreds of protesters and activists took to the streets in Berkeley for the third night in a row. 

There was intermittent looting and arson on Sunday night, with cars torched and windows of corporate buildings smashed. On Monday night, protesters blocked Interstate 80 in both directions, after a 1,500-person protest march. According to the New York Times, there was little sign the protests were abating: “Both the crowd and the police presence seemed larger.”

 Similar protests are being held nationwide: In New York, where Eric Garner died after being placed in an illegal chokehold by a police officer, activists attempted to cause a symbolic “shutdown” of an NBA game attended by British royalty on Monday evening.  

In Berkeley, protesters were organising and sharing photos on social media using the hashtag #BerkeleyProtests, as well as #EricGarner and #ICantBreath—a reference to Garner’s last words, and a phrase that has fast become a protest chant.

https://twitter.com/Joshuapope44/status/542245607063453696

Police faced heavy criticism on Saturday night for deploying tear gas against protesters.

Photo via Introvert/Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 2.5) | Remix by Rob Price

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*First Published: Dec 9, 2014, 8:35 am CST