By Josh Dawsey, Thomas MacMillan and Mark Morales
Demonstrators angry over a grand jury's decision not to indict a
policeman in the death of an unarmed African-American man, Eric
Garner, converged on Friday on some of New York City's most famous
businesses and venues.
Popular, well-known sites, such as Macy's, an Apple Store, Times
Square and the area around the Rockefeller Center Christmas Tree,
were also caught up in the protests.
It was a third night of protests since the grand jury's decision
on Wednesday. Mr. Garner died in July after an apparent chokehold
applied by a New York Police Department officer, an incident
captured on video and viewed widely on the Internet.
Friday evening's crowds seemed more subdued and smaller than
previous nights, and rain pouring down. But the protests followed a
familiar pattern, with rallies that broke into splinter groups that
fanned out across the city.
This time protesters strategically picked some of Manhattan's
most holiday-centric destinations, often mixing with confused
onlookers during the city's busiest season.
New York City police arrested protesters on Manhattan's Lower
East Side as a rally of hundreds of people spilled into one of the
city's busiest roads and halted traffic.
The protesters had marched through Manhattan streets heading
south and eventually ended up underneath the Williamsburg Bridge on
the FDR Drive. Police moved in and, through a loudspeaker attached
to a truck, ordered protesters to clear the road.
Some protesters fled. Police closed in as people tried to jump a
fence into East River Park. Police grabbed about a dozen people and
put them in plastic handcuffs. Police with helmets and face masks
then jumped the fence and grabbed more protesters on the other
side.
Many of the remaining protesters regrouped under the bridge on
the west side of FDR Drive, where they shouted at cops loading
those arrested into two vans.
"They rushed us and started pushing us," said Quase Beasley, who
had been on the other side of the fence. "They were grabbing people
off the gate."
About 7 p.m., local time, protesters converged at the Apple
Store on Fifth Avenue, surprising customers and employees and then
lying on the floor. Many carried signs that read "Unarmed
Civilian," and they chanted some of Mr. Garner's last words
captured on video: "I can't breathe."
"We're sending a message to corporate America. No one wants us
coming in and ruining the flow. Especially during the holiday
season. They better give us something," said Peter Perez, a
protester in the Apple Store.
The protests were mostly peaceful, though a scuffle with police
broke out about 8:30 p.m. At least one person was arrested. More
than 300 protesters have been arrested since Wednesday.
Meanwhile, a group jammed into Times Square, while a separate
crowd of hundreds of people marched down Fifth Avenue. Police
flanked the streets, preventing protesters from blocking traffic as
they had the two previous nights.
A group of at least 50 people merged with crowds of tourists
looking at the Rockefeller Center Christmas Tree, yelling "Hands
up, don't shoot." That chant was made famous after some witnesses
said black teenager Michael Brown's hands were up before a police
officer fatally shot him in Ferguson, Mo. A grand jury declined to
indict the officer, Darren Wilson, two weeks ago, spawning a wave
protests around the country.
A little after 8 p.m., in New York City, several of the groups
protesting in Midtown collided Broadway, creating a bigger and
unified group.
Still, the crowds appeared much smaller than in other cities
such as Boston, where protesters crowded streets and blocked
traffic.
Many of the New York events seemed fluid, small and hastily
organized. Earlier Friday, New York Police Chief Bill Bratton said
he expected crowds to peter out, particularly if the weather
worsened.
Jaymye Thomas, a 23-year-old Brooklynite, was standing alone
looking for other protesters in Union Square. "I'm still angry,"
she said. "I'll be angry til anything changes."
Joe Jackson
contributed to this article.
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