PROTESTERS carrying signs bearing names of black people killed by police marched outside the US Capitol in Washington yesterday to demand a human rights investigation.

About two dozen protesters were met by a line of police who stopped them from advancing toward the building.

Virginia State University associate professor and protest organiser Zoe Spencer said the characters of victims had been dragged through the mud “to justify their own murders.”

Shouts of “Hands up, don’t shoot” began as protesters marched away from the Capitol but quickly changed to chants of “Fists up, fight back.”

It followed a Sunday night clash in Berkeley, California, where officers fired tear gas after being targeted by protesters throwing what they claimed were “explosives.”

The demonstrators blocked motorway flyovers in two places and a number of shops were looted.

Police made several arrests among the 500-plus demon

strators and authorities closed the local Bay Area Rapid Transit station for a second night due to the unrest.

Demonstrators alleged police had fired rubber bullets.

The two nights of looting and rock-throwing on the west coast contrasted with mostly peaceful demonstrations elsewhere.

Protests continued in New York and in Philadelphia 200 people staged a silent “die-in.”

They lay in the street for four minutes and 30 seconds to symbolise the four hours and 30 minutes the body of teenager Mr Brown was left lying on the street after he was shot.

Several US cities have seen regular protests since a grand jury decision last week not to bring criminal charges against the white police officer whose chokehold contributed to Mr Garner’s death in July.

The killings of Mr Garner and Mr Brown highlighted strained relations between police and the black community.

New York Police Commissioner Bill Bratton didn’t help matters when he said on Sunday that an internal probe into Mr Garner’s death could take four months — and only then would he decide if officers had broken department rules.

Meanwhile in Chicago church-affiliated protesters marched through the city, carrying signs and chanting: “I can’t breathe” and “Hands up, don’t shoot.”

In Florida activists blocked a motorway, clogging up traffic headed for Miami Beach.