New York Protests Against Police Violence Attract Other Causes Too

Reporter II December 27, 2014

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People participate in a protest in response to the grand jury's decision in the Eric Garner case in Times Square in New York, Wednesday, Dec. 3, 2014. The grand jury cleared the white New York City police officer Wednesday in the videotaped chokehold death of Garner, an unarmed black man, who had been stopped on suspicion of selling loose, untaxed cigarettes, a lawyer for the victim's family said. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig)

Andrew Chung, REUTERS

(Reuters)—One of the dozens of rallies and marches in New York this week to protest police violence against minorities was organized by members of Occupy Wall Street, the driving force behind worldwide protests over economic inequality in 2011 and 2012.

In the shadow of the New York Stock Exchange in lower Manhattan, leaders of the rally on Friday made passing references to the chokehold death of Eric Garner, an unarmed black man who white officers were attempting to arrest in July.

But mostly the speakers focused on Occupy’s bread-and-butter issues, denouncing Wall Street greed, low wages paid to workers and “looting” by big banks.

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