Around 400 people took to the streets on Tuesday afternoon, gathering in Union Square to protest police brutality at 2 PM. The group then splintered, with a large number marching through Lower Manhattan, past One Police Plaza, and onto the Brooklyn Bridge.
At 4:15, the New York Times reports, some protesters on the bridge “broke through a police barricade. Some jumped over a fence and onto the westbound traffic lanes,” disrupting traffic. It was there, DNAinfo reports, that 42 people were arrested. According to the Times, police officers were reportedly assaulted as well.
Despite the arrests, several protesters continued the march to the Barclays Center.
Flatbush & Atlantic, largest intersection in Brooklyn, shut down, all directions. #ShutDownA14 pic.twitter.com/0QiYZpEp1K
— Keegan Stephan (@KeeganNYC) April 14, 2015
Mayor Bill de Blasio spoke out against the violence, saying, “And any other person who might use the right to peaceful protest as cover to initiate violence, cause mayhem or incite disorder — whether against the police, the people or property of our great city — should consider themselves on notice that New York City will not stand for it.”
However, according to activist Keegan Stephan, who documented the protests on Twitter, “the NYPD terrorized us tonight. They brutalized us without provocation.” Stephan reported that several protesters were seriously injured. He also noted that members of the press were among those arrested.
I know of 4 seriously injured protesters: 2 w/ broken legs, one w/ broken ribs, and one w/a concussion. #ShutDownA14 pic.twitter.com/lXLO5dZ6j8
— Keegan Stephan (@KeeganNYC) April 15, 2015
The protest was coordinated by the Stop Mass Incarceration Network to bring attention to police violence, stop-and-frisk and the targeting of communities of color. The most recent case of police violence that shook the nation was the death of Walter Scott, a d black man who was pulled over for a traffic stop, fled, and ended up being fatally shot by a cop.
(Photo: Keegan Stephan)
