New round of protests erupt in US against racial profiling, police violence

WASHINGTON (Xinhua) - A new round of protests triggered by the recent events in Ferguson and New York City broke out over the weekend, with thousands of protesters turning out in Washington, New York and Boston, protesting police violence and racial profiling.

On Saturday, nearly 10,000 protesters marched through the US capital Washington to call for justice and decry racial discrimination in the wake of recent deaths of Africa-American men at the hands of police.

The protesters marched through the city demanding "Justice for All," in a massive response to recent decisions by two separate grand juries in Ferguson, US State of Missouri, and Staten Island, New York City, which declined to indict the white police officers responsible for the deaths of 18-year-old Michael Brown and 43-year-old Eric Garner.

The "Justice for All" march, which was organized by the National Action Network, a civil rights organization, was joined by the families of police shooting victims, including relatives of Garner, Brown and other victims in racial profiling such as Tamir Rice and Akai Gurley.

The mothers of Rice, Garner and Brown appeared together in public for the first time Friday night at an interview with CNN, speaking out against racial discrimination and arguing that their sons might not have died if they had been white.

"If Eric Garner was a white man doing the same thing that he was doing - even if he would have been caught selling cigarettes that day - they would have given him a summons and he wouldn't have lost his life that day," said Garner's mother, Gwen Carr.

The deaths of these black men have become part of a narrative that many believe is all too common in the United States.

 "We are together. We are united. We are standing. And we are going to fight this together," said Sybrina Fulton, Martin's mother, before leading the march. "You guys mean the world to us," she told fellow protesters.

"Look at the masses," said Garner's mother, encouraged by the turn-out. "Black, white, all races, all religions ... we need to stand like this at all times."

In recent weeks, protesters around the country have participated in demonstrations to decry racial injustice and police brutality. Many of their signs and chants contain the slogan that has become synonymous with the movement: "Black Lives Matter".

That same message was echoed by protesters in "Justice For All" march in Washington, who held slogans that read "Hands Up, No Shoot", "police have blood on their hand", "I can't breathe", and "Stop Torture".

Also on Saturday, thousands of people gathered and marched in New York City against police violence.

"America is supposed to value all of its citizens. We're supposed to have justice for all," a local resident was quoted by a CBS report.

In Boston, hundreds of demonstrators marched from the Massachusetts Statehouse chanting "Black Lives Matter".