Chants of “You can’t stop the revolution!” and participants lying in Spring Street south near the Varsity Restaurant as part of a “die-in” were a few of the activities protesters took part in during a protest in midtown Atlanta Wednesday night.
The protest was, at least in part, a response to the announcement earlier in the day that that a New York City police officer would not be indicted in connection to the death of an unarmed black man. A grand jury cleared the white police officer in the videotaped chokehold death of 43-year-old Eric Garner, who had been stopped by New York City authorities on suspicion of selling loose, untaxed cigarettes.
Atlanta police spokesman Officer John Chafee said officials had counted about 150 peaceful demonstrators during the evening, with participants dispersing around 11:30 p.m. No injuries, damage to property or arrests had been reported by that time.
Protester Sumita Dutta said she was willing to risk arrest Wednesday night to stand up for her beliefs, though the goal of those involved was to not have anyone arrested. She said she was pleased with the large amount of new faces taking part in the evening’s events.
“I feel like what you’re seeing is people coming out hella impromptu after the indictment,” she said. “People are ready to get educated, people are waking up, people are organizing. People are organizing across states, across the country, and internationally.”
The protest began about 9 p.m. with a crowd of about 35 across from the North Avenue MARTA station. Several of those who had gathered at West Peachtree Street and Ponce de Leon Avenue carried signs with messages such as “Black Lives Matter” and “Listen to the people cry.”
Some participants took turns speaking into a bullhorn about victims of police shootings, such as Michael Brown, the 18-year-old black man who was unarmed when he was shot and killed by police officer Darren Wilson in Ferguson, Mo., back in August. A grand jury last month chose not to indict Wilson in connection to Brown’s death.
Dean Steed, one of the organizers of the protest, said the event was put on by a coalition of groups such as It’s Bigger Than You, Southerners on New Ground and the Gen Y Project.
“We came out tonight because in the Eric Garner case, the police [officer who] murdered him, who placed him in a chokehold and suffocated him until he died, was not indicted. That was another indication after the Darren Wilson non-indictment that black lives do not matter in this system,” Steed said. “And we’re out here for black lives.”
Steed said those that marched were able to “shut down” the roadway. Spring Street and the nearby entrance ramps to the Downtown Connector were closed during at least part of the protest.
“Too often are we silenced, too often are we made invisible, and so we have to shut down the highway to let it be known across the country that black lives matter,” Steed said.
By 9:40 the crowd had grown to about 125, according to one estimate, and was marching toward the Downtown Connector on-ramp by The Varsity. Access to the ramp was blocked by a combination of Atlanta and Georgia State Patrol cars.
Last week, protesters made it to the highway by Freedom Parkway and blocked traffic for about 15 minutes after the grand jury decision in Ferguson.
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