WASHINGTON — Thousands of protesters marched across the country Saturday — to Congress in the nation’s capital, along iconic Fifth Avenue in New York and in front of Boston’s Statehouse — to call attention to the deaths of unarmed black men at the hands of police and urge lawmakers to take action.
Chanting “I can’t breathe!” ”Hands up, don’t shoot!” and waving signs reading “Black lives matter!” the demonstrators also staged “die-ins” as they lay down across intersections and in one city briefly scuffled with police blocking an onramp to an Interstate.
“My husband was a quiet man, but he’s making a lot of noise right now,” said Washington protest marcher Esaw Garner, widow of Eric Garner, 43, who died in July after being put in a chokehold by New York City police during an arrest for allegedly selling loose, untaxed cigarettes.
“His voice will be heard. I have five children in this world and we are fighting not just for him but for everybody’s future, for everybody’s past, for everybody’s present, and we need to make it strong.”
Organizers had predicted 5,000 people at the Washington march, but the crowd appeared to far outnumber that. They later said they believed as many as 25,000 had shown up. It was not possible to verify the numbers; Washington police do not release crowd estimates.
Garner’s mother, Gwen Carr, called the demonstrations a “history-making moment.”
“It’s just so overwhelming to see all who have come to stand with us today,” she said. “I mean, look at the masses. Black, white, all races, all religions. … We need to stand like this at all times.”
Joining the Garners in Washington were speakers from the family of Tamir Rice, a 12-year-old killed in Ohio as he played with a pellet gun in a park, and the Rev. Al Sharpton, who helped organize the marches.
“Members of Congress, beware we’re serious …,” Sharpton said. “When you get a ring-ding on Christmas, it might not be Santa; it may be Rev. Al coming to your house.”
Several speakers asked the crowd to chant, “I can’t breathe.” Garner, 43, had gasped those words before his death. Some protesters also wore those words on shirts. Other speakers called for a chant of “Hands up, don’t shoot,” and protesters also waved signs reading “Black Lives Matter!”
Protests — some violent — have occurred around the nation since grand juries last month declined to indict the officers involved in the deaths of Michael Brown, 18, shot and killed by a white police officer in Ferguson, Mo, a suburb of St. Louis, and Garner.
Washington, D.C., and U.S. Park Police said they had made no arrests in the capital protests. In Boston, however, about two dozen people were arrested for disorderly conduct after scuffling with officers blocking an Interstate 93 onramp near the Nashua Street Jail.