(Newswire.net — April 15, 2015) — New York, NY – Hundreds of people, protesting against police brutality, caused a huge traffic jam Thursday when they shut down the Brooklyn Bridge during rush hour.
The protesters took part in a nationwide movement calling for civil disobedience in the wake of the recent police shooting of Walter Scott in South Carolina. The protesters clashed Thursday with police as they tried to clear the bridge for traffic and secure the protest. Reports stated that more than 20 people were arrested when the protesters stormed the bridge around 4 p.m.
According to the report, a group of around 400 protesters gathered near Union Square about 2 p.m. There they began chanting familiar refrains like “I can’t breathe” and “black lives matter.”
Approximately two hours later, the group occupied a pedestrian walkway on the bridge. Soon the crowds swelled and protesters soon poured out onto the roadway causing a massive rush hour traffic jam.
Several of the demonstrators snaked their way through traffic chanting things like “F— the police” and likening the NYPD to the “KKK” while drivers honked and shouted back angrily, according to the New York Post.
“These pigs have blood on their hands — that’s right, it’s time to take a stand,” Jamel Mims, 28, a member of the New York City Revolution Club — one of the groups who helped to plan the protest, told New York Post. “I call cops pigs, and its an insult to farm animals,” he told NW Post, adding that groups from around the country had been planning Tuesday’s chaos for months.
The police arrested the most aggravating protesters, squashing their faces to the ground while putting plastic straps on their wrists and loading them into the buses.
Two officers suffered minor injuries, according to the officials. One was an off-duty sergeant and another was an officer from the 78th precinct, sources said.
City Hall and Police Headquarters were placed on lockdown as the protesters stormed the gates of each building while shouting and performing die-ins.
the protesters