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US cities echoed to the chants of tens of thousands of peaceful demonstrators at the weekend protesting against police killings of unarmed black men.
“I can’t breathe!” and “Hands up, don’t shoot!” rang out as marchers waved signs reading “Black lives matter!” and members of the families of three victims packed a stage in front of the Capitol in Washington.
Grieving parents urged supportive marchers to keep pressing for changes to the criminal justice system.
The 25,000-strong march in Washington, attended by family members for Michael Brown and Eric Garner, who were killed by police in recent months, and Amadou Diallo, who was fatally shot by police more than 15 years ago, coin
cided with nationwide demonstrations from Fifth Avenue in New York to the streets of San Francisco and the steps of the Boston Statehouse.
“My husband was a quiet man but he’s making a lot of noise right now,” said Esaw Garner, the widow of Eric Garner. He 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.”
Demonstrators in some cities also staged die-ins, lying down across road junctions.
Mr Garner’s mother, Gwen Carr, called the demonstrations a “history-making moment … to see all who have come to stand with us today.
“I mean, look at the masses. Black, white, all races, all religions … We need to stand like this at all times.”
Joining the Garners 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 mother of Amadou Diallo, who was shot and killed in the Bronx in 1999 by four NYC police officers.
Before the crowd started marching, Reverend Al Sharpton, who helped organise the event, advised them: “Don’t let no provocateurs get you out of line … We are not here to play big shot. We are here to win.”
