Fight Back! News

News and Views from the People's Struggle

In-Justice System

By staff

Miami protest demands justice for Eric Garner.

Miami, FL- Over 500 people marched through the streets of Miami on Dec. 5 in response to a grand jury’s refusal to indict New York police officer Daniel Pantaleo who killed Eric Garner. The protest called for an end to police violence against African Americans, Latinos and other oppressed people in the U.S.

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By Cannon Atkinson

Salt Lake City die in at LDS Temple Square.

Salt Lake City, UT – Hundreds of people rallied at the Wallace Bennett Federal Building the night of Dec. 6, the latest in an ongoing string of protests organized by Utah Against Police Brutality. After the failure to indict Officer Darren Wilson in Ferguson, a grand jury in Staten Island let NYPD Officer Daniel Pantaleo walk away without charges. Officer Pantaleo used an illegal chokehold on Eric Garner, resulting in what the coroner ruled a homicide.

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By staff

Anti War Committee Human Rights Day protest condemns U.S. sponsored repression a

Minneapolis, MN – The Twin Cities-based Anti-War Committee marked the upcoming International Human Rights Day on Dec. 6 with a community march to highlight the U.S. government’s abysmal human rights record. Chants and speakers addressed the recent grand jury decisions in Ferguson and New York, the U.S. role in funding war and destruction abroad and the consequences of these policies here at home on social spending. Protesters rallied at Bryant Square Park, marched on Lake Street and then had a concluding rally at Karmel West.

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By staff

Chicago march against police terror.

Chicago, IL – Over 100 people rallied and marched here to demand justice for Eric Garner, Michael Brown and all police crime victims. The demonstration was called by the Chicago Alliance Against Racist and Political Repression.

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By Gage Lacharite

Tampa march against police killings of African Americans.

Tampa, FL – Over 250 protesters gathered on Dec. 5 to protest police terror and to end the killing of African American men by the police. Protesters demanded “Jail killer cops” – like police officer Darren Wilson who shot Mike Brown to death in Ferguson, Missouri, and officer Daniel Pantaleo who killed Eric Garner in New York.

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By Sarah Graham

Asheville, NC protest against police murder of Eric Garner

Asheville, NC – Over 100 people marched to protest the police murder of Eric Garner, an African American man killed by a white cop in New York. A grand jury failed to indict NYPD officer Daniel Pantaleo, despite a graphic video showing the police officer choke-holding Garner from behind. The large crowd in Asheville marched from the Buncombe County Courthouse to the center of downtown to rally and stage a die in against police brutality on Dec. 6. Despite the rain, protesters, led by students, chanted, “Hands up, don’t shoot!” and “We are unstoppable, another world is possible!”

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By staff

Protest spoke out against local state’s attorney for supporting killer cops

Jacksonville protesters stage die-in at downtown Hemming Plaza

Jacksonville, FL – On Dec. 5, nearly 100 protesters gathered in downtown Jacksonville to demand justice for Eric Garner, the New York African American man who was choked to death by police. The protest was called in response to the decision by a New York grand jury earlier in the week to not indict the police officer who killed Garner.

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By Kosta Harlan

_Police arrest 31, use sound cannon _

Hundreds of people block the streets outside the Durham Jail

Durham, NC – About 500 people took to the streets of Durham on Dec. 5 to protest police brutality and the criminal injustice system. Hundreds gathered in Durham's downtown CCB Plaza and rallied for an hour, where mainly African American speakers relayed story after story of police abuse and racist discrimination.

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By staff

Protesters and cops inside Police and Fire Commission meeting

Milwaukee, WI – Hundreds marched through downtown Milwaukee, Dec. 4, led by the family of Dontre Hamilton, who was killed by a Milwaukee Police officer earlier this year. Community members held signs saying “I am Eric Garner.”

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By staff

Chicago marches for justice for Eric Garner

Chicago, IL – Over 600 people marched here, Dec. 4, to protest the failure of a grand jury in New York to indict the cop who killed Eric Garner. Many signs at the march noted that Dec. 4, 1969, was the day the Chicago police assassinated Black Panther leaders Fred Hampton and Mark Clark. Frank Chapman of the Chicago Alliance Against Racist and Political Repression states, “To stop police crimes, we have to end police control of Black and Latino communities.”

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By Jonathan Waring

Tristan Worthington leading the march to the administration hall

Gainesville, FL – Students for a Democratic Society (SDS) at the University of Florida marched through campus on Dec. 3. Students are demanding that the University Police Department opt out of the Department of Defense 1033 Program that provides assault rifles and armored vehicles to local police. The 1033 Program came under close scrutiny after protests against the police murder of Mike Brown in Ferguson, Missouri. Photos of protesters and residents being confronted by local police armed with assault weapons and tank-type vehicles shocked the world.

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By Freedom Road Socialist Organization

There is no justice in America’s courts

Eric Garner was an African American man who was murdered by a white cop with the New York City Police Department. The medical examiner ruled the killing a homicide. The video that shows Eric Garner being choked to death in the street – strangled as a gang of police jumped him – has been viewed by tens of millions. You can hear his last words, “I can’t breathe.” Still, on Dec 3, a white-majority grand jury let the killer cop and his accomplices walk free.

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By staff

Protesters rally on I - 35, demand end to police brutality.

Minneapolis, MN – About 300 people took to the streets here Dec. 4 to demand justice for Eric Gardner, Mike Brown, Terrence Franklin and others killed by racist police. Massive demonstrations against police terror are taking place in cities across the U.S.

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By Fern

Jacksonville, FL – Marissa Alexander took a plea deal offered by the State Attorney to avoid an upcoming trial on Dec. 8 where she would have faced up to 60 years in prison. Alexander was charged in 2012 with aggravated assault with a deadly weapon after firing a warning shot to defend herself from her estranged abusive husband.

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By Ian Decker

Huge march against police violence in Salt Lake City

Salt Lake City, UT – More than 1000 people rallied in front of the Wallace Bennett Federal Building on Nov. 29 to stand in solidarity with the people of Ferguson in their fight for justice. Protesters were both mournful about the police murder of Mike Brown and furious about the failure of the Ferguson grand jury to indict Brown’s killer. The large turnout in Salt Lake City is due to killer cops and police brutality in Utah, where many families are suffering injustices.

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By staff

Students from UW-Milwaukee held “Die-In” in response to Ferguson verdict

Milwaukee, WI – Students from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee (UWM) held a die-in on Nov. 25, in reaction to Ferguson cop Darren Wilson not being indicted for killing Mike Brown. About 40 students participated in the protest and many more watched.

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By Michela

Eric Brown, a lead organizer of Gainesville SDS, speaking

Gainesville, FL – 100 students and community members protested the Ferguson grand jury decision, the failure to indict police officer Darren Wilson. Gathering at the Alachua County Court House in Gainesville at on Nov. 25, the protesters, wearing raincoats and holding umbrellas, stood in solidarity as the rain fell.

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By staff

According to a Nov. 28 report from the Korean Central News Agency, a spokesman for the Foreign Ministry of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) talked about the mass protests after the Ferguson verdict in the case the Michael Brown shooting, stating, “After the Missouri State judicial authorities of the U.S. on Nov. 24 decided not to indict a white policeman who shot a black young man to death three months ago, protests against racism took place once again, rapidly spilling over into at least 170 cities across the U.S., including New York and Los Angeles. This is a clear proof of the real picture of the U.S. as tundra of human rights where extreme racial discrimination acts are openly practiced.”

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By staff

Huge sit in at South High School demands justice for Mike Brown.

Minneapolis, MN – About 500 students participated in a sit-in at of South High School to protest the grand jury verdict that failed to indict the cop who killed Mike Brown. The sit-in wrapped around the corridors of the entire first floor of the building.

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By staff

Minneapolis, MN – On Nov. 25, more than 500 students and youth gathered in front of the University of Minnesota’s Coffman Memorial Union to demand justice for Michael Brown and all other victims of police brutality.

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