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Thousands Rally Against Police Brutality in Washington and New York City

3 minute read
Updated: | Originally published: ;

Demonstrators numbering in the tens of thousands marched on the National Mall in Washington, D.C. and in New York City on Saturday, as well as other cities across the U.S., to protest the killings of unarmed black men by police officers.

In the nation’s capital, the families of black men killed by police, including relatives of Staten Island resident Eric Garner, Ferguson, Mo. teenager Michael Brown, and Cleveland, Ohio 12-year-0ld Tamir Rice and others, joined civil rights groups and other demonstrators at the Justice For All march. The marchers called for an end to police killings and for law enforcement who kill unarmed citizens to be held to account for their actions.

In New York City, protestors held signs featuring the words “I am Eric Garner” and chanted what has become a rallying cry of the movement to end police killings of unarmed black men: “Hands up/Don’t shoot.” Andre Irving, 31 and black, attended the rally with his father Mark Irving, 57. “I’m worried for my safety, the safety of my family, my friends, my neighbors,” he told TIME. “Can I go to the store and walk home without being killed?”

See Thousands Across The Nation Protest Police Brutality

Thousands march through Manhattan to protest police violence
Thousands of people gather at Washington Square to march through Manhattan to protest police violence on Dec. 13, 2014 in New York City.Cem Ozdel—Anadolu Agency/Getty Images
Justice for All
Demonstrators chant at Freedom Plaza in Washington on Dec. 13, 2014.Jose Luis Magana—AP
Thousands of protestors came out to demonstrate against police brutality in new York City on Dec. 13, 2014.
Thousands of protestors demonstrate against police brutality in New York City as part of the Millions March on Dec. 13, 2014.Andrew Hinderaker
Thousands of protestors came out to demonstrate against police brutality in new York City on Dec. 13, 2014.
Thousands of protestors demonstrate against police brutality in New York City as part of the Millions March on Dec. 13, 2014.Andrew Hinderaker
Protesters Stage "Day Of Anger" March In Wake Of Recent Grand Jury Decisions
People march in the National March Against Police Violence on Dec. 13, 2014 in New York City. Andrew Burton—Getty Images
US-POLICE-RACE-JUSTICE-RIGHTS
Thousands take part in the "Justice for All" march and rally down Pennsylvania Avenue to the U.S. Capitol in Washington D.C. on Dec. 13, 2014.Saul Loeb—AFP/Getty Images
People shout slogans against police as they take part in a march against police violence, in New York
People shout slogans against police as they take part in a march against police violence in New York City on Dec. 13, 2014. Eduardo Munoz—Reuters
Protesters Stage Nationwide Marches In Wake Of Recent Grand Jury Decisions
Young boys watch from a seat in a charter bus as demonstrators march along Michigan Avenue to protest police brutality on Dec. 13, 2014 in Chicago.Scott Olson—Getty Images
Killings By Police March
Thousands of protestors demonstrate against police brutality in new York City on Dec. 13, 2014.John Minchillo—AP
A police officer looks into the crowd, after he was hit on the leg with paint thrown by protesters, in Oakland
A police officer looks into the crowd, after he was hit on the leg with paint thrown by protesters during an evening demonstration against police violence in Oakland, Calif. on Dec. 13, 2014.Stephen Lam—Reuters
Justice for All
Film director Spike Lee, and others, march on Pennsylvania Avenue toward Capitol Hill in Washington, on Dec. 13, 2014.Jose Luis Magana—AP
Lesley McSpadden mother Michael Brown helps lead the "Justice For All" rally and march against police brutality on Dec. 13, 2014 in Washington D.C.
Lesley McSpadden, mother of unarmed teenager Michael Brown, shot and killed in Ferguson, Mo., in August, helps lead the march on Dec. 13, 2014 in Washington D.C. Chip Somodevilla—Getty Images
Protesters Stage Nationwide Marches In Wake Of Recent Grand Jury Decisions
A man holds up a ''Jail Killer Cops' sign during a 'Millions March' demonstration in Oakland, Calif. on Dec. 13, 2014.Elijah Nouvelage—Getty Images
Protesters Stage "Day Of Anger" March In Wake Of Recent Grand Jury Decisions
People march in the National March Against Police Violence on Dec. 13, 2014 in New York City. Andrew Burton—Getty Images
Thousands of protestors came out to demonstrate against police brutality in new York City on Dec. 13, 2014.
Thousands of protestors demonstrate against police brutality in New York City as part of the Millions March on Dec. 13, 2014.Andrew Hinderaker

Eva Osborne, 8, wore a pin featuring the words “I can’t breathe,” some of the last words Eric Garner spoke before he dies in a video of his arrest, and a phrase that has also been used as a rallying call. “I have a black brother and a black dad,” she said. Her brother is five, her father 43, the same age as Eric Garner. “When my brother grows up, he might be treated the same way.”

Police declined to estimate the size of the ground in Washington, the New York Times reports, but media estimates place the size of the crowd in the tens of thousands. Police in New York City estimated the crowd size at roughly 12,000.

The protests mark a new level of civil action in weeks of sometimes violent unrest around the country, as citizens erupted in mass outrage after no charges were brought against police officers responsible for killing Brown, an unarmed teenager shot by police in Ferguson, and Garner, an unarmed Staten Island man who died after being aggressively subdued by police during his arrest for illegally selling cigarettes on the street.

The Justice For All march in Washington was spearheaded by the National Action Network led by Al Sharpton. Some demonstrators, expressing disdain at those they considered celebrity protestors, disrupted the proceedings at a pre-march rally, The Washington Post reports.

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Write to Charlotte Alter at charlotte.alter@time.com