Prostesters Take to NYC Streets in Wake of Garner Grand Jury Decision

On Wednesday, America proved once again that it cares more about protecting the careers of brutal police officers than the lives of young black men. A grand jury in New York declined to indict Daniel Pantaleo, the Staten Island NYPD officer who killed Eric Garner. Following that decision, thousands of protesters have taken to the streets of New York.

Protests took place at Grand Central Station, Times Square and Staten Island on Wednesday, reports CBS:

Some protesters said they planned to disrupt the Christmas tree lighting ceremony at Rockefeller Center between 7 and 9 p.m., CBS2’s Tony Aiello reported.

As CBS2’s Tracee Carrasco reported, protesters had arrived at Rockefeller Plaza from Times Square by 6:15 p.m. Some were on the sidewalk chanting and holding signs, as others crowded the area for the annual holiday event.

Protests were not limited to New York. Crowds gathered in Oakland at Oscar Grant Plaza, named another young black man who was killed by a police officer.

Attorney General Eric Holder announced this evening the Justice Department will launch a federal investigation into Garner’s death, according to the Huffington Post. Spike Lee told Anderson Cooper he plans to join the protests in New York, with cameras on hand. Comedian Chris Rock offered this earlier on Twitter.

Body cameras are great but they not going to be a fix-all. This problem runs so much deeper than that.

We will update this post throughout the evening. If you are going to the protests have any tweets, vines, pictures, videos, etc you want to share you can send them to us via [email protected]