New York-area demonstrators hit the streets to protest Ferguson decision; 10 arrested
NEW YORK (WABC) -- Hundreds of people marched in Manhattan and across the New York area to peacefully protest a grand jury's decision not to indict a white police officer who fatally shot an unarmed black teenager in Missouri, a shooting that has sparked weeks of sometime violent protests.
For a second straight night, hundreds of demonstrators gathered in Union Square Tuesday night, and began heading north on Broadway towards Times Square. Police began arresting protesters in Times Square just before 8 p.m.
In New York City, 10 people were arrested during Tuesday night's protests. Four were charged with resisting arrest and six were charged with disorderly conduct. Eight of the arrests were made in the Times Square area, while others were made near the Lincoln Tunnel and FDR Drive.
"I am ordering you to leave this roadway and sidewalk," an NYPD officer said at one point Tuesday night.
The protest, while always loud, was mostly peaceful, until they reached Times Square. At rush hour two nights before Thanksgiving, hundreds took over much of Manhattan.
"I'll sit in traffic all day for this. The systematic injustices facing this country make me sick. There's too many Mike Browns, there's too many Trayvon Martins," said Megan Hodges, a motorist.
"Taking the streets because it's our moral obligation for the whole world," a protester said.
And so there they were at the Lincoln Tunnel, trying to access it from three different entrances and causing traffic mayhem at each one.
On the FDR Drive they weaved through traffic, snarling commuters for hours.
And at the Williamsburg Bridge, they tussled with officers, some even burned an American flag.
"We've got to stand up; all lives have to matter. All of them -- black, white, Latino -- we all are in this together. And if we don't care, then what's the point?" said Brian Jones, a protester.
"Yes, we live in America, yes, I do believe people have a right to protest and say their beliefs," said Nancy Gentile, a commuter. "I just want to go home; I just want to go home, please."
The protesters had gathered in Union Square Monday night when it was announced that officer Darren Wilson would not be indicted in the death of Michael Brown. They chanted "hands up, don't shoot" while holding up signs saying "Black lives matter" and "jail killer cops."
The protesters then swarmed through traffic, closely trailed by police officers, as they marched up to Times Square, where they held a rally.
Another crowd of several hundred continued north up Columbus Avenue on Manhattan's Upper West Side shouting, "Don't shoot!"
They were flanked by police on foot and in vehicles with their lights flashing. The activists stopped traffic for more than a dozen blocks.
Police said that protesters briefly shut down the RFK and Brooklyn bridges, and one person was in custody for tossing some kind of red liquid that splattered Police Commissioner William Bratton slightly as he walked in Times Square.
Diego Ibanez, 21, of Brooklyn, was arrested Tuesday for allegedly throwing the substance. He is charged with two counts of assault on a police officer, six counts of criminal mischief, six counts of obstructing governmental administration and two counts of disorderly conduct, two counts of harassment and five counts of reckless endangerment.
Ibanez has one prior arrest for criminal trespassing and four other sealed arrests.
Bratton joked about the fake blood incident, saying it was vegetable based, so it might come out.
In anticipation of more protests Tuesday night, the NYPD planned to keep some officers on overtime, but Bratton said 12-hour shifts are not necessary at this juncture. He says the department's game plan is to give demonstrators the opportunity to protest peacefully, so long as that's what they do.
Bratton was critical of the investigative secrecy in the Ferguson case, saying if more details about how the officer was attacked were released earlier, there might have been more understanding in the community.
He also revealed that the NYPD has had a number of detectives in Missouri over the last week, helping local law enforcement with what he called "professional agitators."
Police announced a second arrest, of 30-year-old Michael Steakin, on Tuesday. He is charged with assaulting a police officer, resisting arrest and obstructing governmental administration after police say he threw an empty can at a police officer near the RFK Bridge at East 125th Street and Second Avenue just before 1 a.m.
Steakin and others were attempting to cross the bridge, which had been closed by police.
He allegedly threw the item at an officer's face.
The officer injured his right knee in the ensuing scuffle to arrest Steakin and was treated and released at a nearby hospital.
In Newark, several hundred protesters marched through the streets to protest the decision.
Activists from the People's Organization For Progress led the peaceful march on Tuesday night. It followed a rally at the city's Lincoln monument.
Police cleared the streets of cars along the route so the protesters could pass.
One of the group's leaders, Larry Hamm, called on the U.S. Justice Department to bring civil rights charges against Wilson and said the officer belonged in jail.
(The Associated Press contributed to this story.)
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