Protests continue in deaths of Eric Garner, Akai Gurley

'We can't breathe' at Grand Central, Union Square, Macy's

December 8, 2014 By Mary Frost Brooklyn Daily Eagle

Protesters at Grand Central. Photo by Lore Croghan

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Hundreds of protesters gathered on Sunday at Grand Central station and other locations across the city, including Macy’s in Herald Square and Forever 21, in the fourth day of demonstrations in the death of Eric Garner in Staten Island.

Protesters chanted, “I can’t breathe,” in memory of the last words Garner repeated before his death following an alleged choke hold by a police officer. At Grand Central, protesters held a mass die-in, and a moment of silence. A red banner spelled out, “Black lives matter.”

Crowds also gathered in Union Square and in several stores in Times Square, including the Disney Store, with the aim of disrupting holiday shopping.

A rally was also held at the Louis H. Pink Houses in Brooklyn to protest another fatal encounter with police — the shooting of an innocent man, Akai Gurley, in a pitch-dark stairwell there by rookie police officer Peter Liang on Nov. 20. Liang said his gun went off accidentally.

Gurley’s funeral was held Friday. Brooklyn DA Kenneth Thompson said he would convene a grand jury, pledging “a full and fair investigation.”

Organizers plan to roll out more demonstrations throughout this week, calling it a “holiday intervention” to draw attention to the loss of black lives at the hands of police.