|
 Organizers said the marches were among the largest in a recent
wave of protests against the deaths that have cast a global
spotlight on race relations in the United States.
The rallies were mainly peaceful, though police in Boston said they
arrested 23 people who tried to block a highway.
Officers in Oakland, California said they detained about 45 people
for vandalism, failure to disperse, resisting arrest and other
charges on Saturday night after thousands took to the streets.
Decisions by grand juries to return no indictments against the
officers involved in the deaths of Michael Brown in Missouri and
Eric Garner in New York have put police treatment of minorities back
on the national agenda.
"We're going to keep the light on Mike Brown ... on all of the
victims. The only way you make roaches run is to keep the light on,"
said civil rights leader the Rev. Al Sharpton, whose National Action
Network organized the Washington rally.
 Sharpton urged Congress to pass legislation that would allow federal
prosecutors to take over cases involving police violence.
Protesters from around the country gathered at Freedom Plaza, a few
blocks from the White House, then marched down Pennsylvania Avenue
to rally near the white-domed U.S. Capitol.
Marchers, including many parents with children, chanted "No justice,
no peace, no racist police" and "Hands up, don't shoot." Protesters
carried signs that said "All men are created equal" and "Black lives
matter."
Relatives of Eric Garner and Akai Gurley, who were killed by New
York police, Brown and Trayvon Martin, slain by a Florida
neighborhood watchman in 2012, all took part in the Washington
rally.
"What a sea of people," said Brown's mother, Lesley McSpadden. "If
they don't see this and make a change, I don't know what we're going
to do."
INMATES CHEER MARCHERS
In Missouri, a prosecutor on Saturday released documents related to
the investigation into Brown's killing, saying his office had
inadvertently held them back.
Protesters gathered in a one-block section of Pennsylvania Avenue
and nearby public space. Organizers estimated the crowd at 40,000 to
50,000 people. A police spokesman said there had been no arrests.
Inmates in Boston's Suffolk County jail cheered and banged on cell
windows as hundreds of protesters walked past outside near an
entrance to Interstate 93.
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Protesters tried to push through police lines near the highway
entrance. Massachusetts State Police said 23 people were arrested
for disorderly conduct. Police said one person was arrested in New
York after two officers were assaulted by protesters. Mayor Bill de
Blasio, who has been criticized by the police union for not
supporting the department, said the reported attacks marked "an ugly
and unacceptable departure from the demonstrations thus far."
"Those who reject peaceful protest and provoke violence can expect
immediate arrest and prosecution," he added.
The New York march drew a mostly young, ethnically diverse crowd
that headed north up Manhattan's Fifth Avenue from Washington Square
Park.
Protesters chanted "How do you spell racist? NYPD" and some taunted
police guarding the march route.
At the end of the march, the protesters raised their hands in mock
surrender outside the police headquarters in lower Manhattan.
"The culture in America is embedded in slavery, in the courts and
the politics, and the culture has to change," said marcher Kayode
Leonard, 33, from Manhattan.
Cardboard effigies of lynching victims were left hanging from nooses
at the University of California, Berkeley.
University spokeswoman Claire Holmes said all were taken down. "It
has been unclear to us whether this was racially motivated or part
of the protests," she added.
(Additional reporting by Brian Snyder in Boston, Eric M. Johnson in
Seattle and Emmett Berg in Oakland; Editing by Chris Michaud and
Andrew Heavens)
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