A protester holds a placard during a Dec. 12 march through the streets of east Denver to protest police actions in Ferguson, Mo., and in New York City. AP/David Zalubowski

Thousands of Americans took to the streets Saturday in Washington, D.C., New York, Boston and elsewhere to protest grand jury decisions not to indict police officers in the deaths of young black men.

At the center of protests that have surged across the country in recent weeks were the deaths of Michael Brown of Missouri and Eric Garner of New York.

The Guardian reported:

More than 20 people were arrested in Boston on Saturday, as hundreds gathered around the Massachusetts state capitol amid a heavy police presence. Largely peaceful protests took place in Chicago and Oakland.

In New York, thousands marched from Washington Square Park uptown, via 6th Avenue, before turning downtown to progress along Broadway and to NYPD headquarters at One Police Plaza. Later, after darkness had fallen, protesters attempted to stop traffic on the Brooklyn Bridge.

… In Washington, [Rev. Al] Sharpton electrified a larger audience, as he has done many times this year at funerals and protests.

“We don’t come to Washington as shooters and chokers,” he shouted. “We come as the shot and the choked, asking you to help deal with the American citizens who can’t breathe in their own communities.

“This is not a black march or a white march,” he added. “This is an American march.”

Estimates of the size of the crowd in New York City varied widely, between 10,000 and 50,000.

Read more here.

Vinay Pulim:

— Posted by Alexander Reed Kelly.

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