Chicago, IL – When the people of Ferguson rose up last August, an act of international solidarity took place that the world is still talking about. Less than one week after the killing of Mike Brown, Palestinian activists resisting the Israeli war on Gaza tweeted advice on dealing with tear gas to Black protesters in the suburb of Saint Louis.

In Chicago, over 40 people gathered to hear a panel of local organizers discuss the struggle against war and occupation at home and around the world on Sept. 12. Holly Kent-Payne of the Anti-War Committee-Chicago, the group that hosted the gathering, talked about the use of tanks, assault rifles and other surplus military gear by the cops in Ferguson. These images were shocking to the U.S. public unaware that police forces in oppressed Black, Chicano and Latino communities have militarized heavily in recent years.

19-year-old Sundous Daghash of the U.S. Palestinian Community Network explained the struggle of the people of Palestine, and then noted that “tactics of repression were perfected by the Israeli military by constantly using them against the Palestinian people and then brought back to the U.S. to be practiced on the occupied Black nation here in the U.S.”

Lorena Buni of AnakBayan, a patriotic organization of Filipino youth in the U.S., detailed the suffering of the indigenous Lumad people at the hands of mining companies in the Philippines. The country’s armed forces torture and murder human rights advocate with impunity and with the full support of the U.S. military.

Frank Chapman, field organizer for the Chicago Alliance Against Racist and Political Repression, and the main force behind the recent and historic August 29 rally to #StopPoliceCrimes in Chicago, put the different struggles in the context of U.S. imperialism and its 500 years of genocide and oppression of subjugated nations, including African Americans, Chicanos and Native Americans in the U.S., and Filipinos, Palestinians, and countless other countries that have the boot of imperialism on their necks.

All the speakers referenced the case of Rasmea Odeh, the Palestinian community leader in Chicago unjustly convicted in a federal kangaroo court for refusing to accept Israel’s occupation of her homeland. All the speakers, and many in the crowd, pledged to be present in Cincinnati when Rasmea has her appeal hearing on Oct. 14.

#ChicagoIL #AntiwarMovement #militarization #Ferguson

Protesters assembled at Hamline Park and marched down Snelling Avenue to University Avenue, where a die-in was staged. Demonstrators were on the ground for four-and-a-half minutes to honor Brown.

The protest march ended up at the Western District Precinct police station, where some of the organizers spoke, including the aunt of Marcus Golden, a young man who was killed by police in Saint Paul in January of this year.

The action was organized by Black Liberation Project and Black Lives Matter Minneapolis.

#StPaulMN #ImmigrantRights #PoliceBrutality #WomensMovement #Healthcare #HousingStruggles #Racism #EnvironmentalJustice #Minnesota #Antiracism #Ferguson

Bloomington, MN – Thousands of protesters shut down large sections of the biggest shopping mall in the U.S., the Mall of America (MOA), in the early afternoon of Dec. 20, demanding an end to police brutality. The mall rotunda was filled demonstrators with raised arms, chanting “Hands up, don’t shoot!”

Above the protesters in the rotunda, and alongside a giant artificial silver Christmas tree, a huge electronic billboard warned, “Those who continue to demonstrate will be subject to arrest.” More than 1000 protesters filled the store-lined corridors that radiate out from the mall’s rotunda. Some pressed through lines of mall security, with their hands raised and chanting. Many MOA stores closed up and riot-clad police could be seen marching up corridors. The protest continued until late afternoon.

A statement from demonstration organizers, Black Lives Matter Minneapolis, said, “Our basic demands are: an immediate end to the unjust police murders of unarmed Black people, including Black children and teens, and for Minnesota to take measures to eliminate the worst racial disparities in policing in the country.” The statement also called for a number of policy changes including, “adoption of legislation to end racial profiling, including an end to MOA’s illegal racial profiling.”

The protest was joined by many progressive Twin Cites organizations including the Anti-War Committee and the Welfare Rights Committee.

The protest at the Mall of America was one of the many that have taken place in recent months after the uprisings in Ferguson, Missouri in response to the police murder of Mike Brown, and the recent decision of a grand jury to let the New York cop who killed Eric Garner escape justice.

#BloomingtonMinnesota #BloomingtonMN #PoliceBrutality #Antiracism #EricGarner #Ferguson #BlackLivesMatter #MallOfAmerica

Jacksonville, FL – On Dec. 15, the Jacksonville Sheriff's Office returned some of the phones they seized from the 19 protesters who shut down the Hart Bridge last week.

The protesters, dubbed the Jacksonville 19 by local activists and media, stopped traffic on the bridge on Dec. 8 to demand justice for Eric Garner. Garner was the African American man who the NYPD choked, leading to his death. A New York grand jury refused to indict the white police officer Daniel Pantaleo, adding fuel to the flames of a nationwide protest movement against racism and police brutality.

Sheriff’s office staff called several protesters to let them know that they could pick up their phones from evidence. As of Dec. 15, police were still holding cameras belonging to protesters, and many phones and electronic storage devices remained in custody.

Police seized every phone, camera and other storage device from protesters after arresting them for obstructing traffic. Officers claimed they were seizing these personal belongings to use as evidence against the protesters and to identify the people who attended another protest earlier on the same day.

The Jacksonville Sheriff Office sergeant at the scene originally told protesters that they would receive verbal warnings and written citations for the offense, which is a misdemeanor in Florida. Activists say that the protesters were arrested after a communication from Jacksonville Sheriff John Rutherford, who gave the order to arrest everyone.

Immediately after the arrests on Dec. 8, the Jacksonville Progressive Coalition called an emergency jailhouse protest outside the John E. Goode Pre-trial Detention Facility, where police held the protesters for several hours. More than 30 people assembled outside chanting “Jail killer cops, not justice protesters!” and “Free the Jax justice fighters!”

With support from the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, all 19 protesters were released or bonded out on Dec. 9.

One of the 19, Siddie Friar, was charged with two felonies. Police claim that Friar resisted arrest with violence and assaulted an officer. At a separate bond hearing for Friar on Dec. 9, State Attorney Angela Corey's office asked the judge to raise Friar's bond, using Facebook posts as evidence of her political activity. According to activists present at the bond hearing, some of the Facebook posts presented by prosecutors were obtained through Friar's phone. Friar was eventually released with the same bond as the others.

Police are still holding Friar's phone, along with many other devices.

The court appearance dates for the Jacksonville 19 are set for late December and early January. The Jacksonville Progressive Coalition, along with several other organizations, is calling on State Attorney Angela Corey to return all seized belongings to the protesters immediately and to drop all charges on the Jacksonville 19.

#JacksonvilleFl #PeoplesStruggles #NewYork #Florida #EricGarner #Ferguson #MikeBrown

Gainesville, FL – On Dec. 12, students and community members blocked the entrances to a basketball game between the University of Florida (UF) and Texas Southern University. The action was called as part of a growing movement to protest police killings of African Americans and Latinos in the U.S. This follows the failures to indict police officer Darren Wilson, who shot Mike Brown in Ferguson, Missouri, as well as NYPD officer Daniel Pantaleo, who choked Eric Garner to death.

Around 130 people gathered at the Stephen C. O’Connell Center before the basketball game and held a die-in at the entrance as the doors opened. Then, the group moved to the student gate, blocking the entrance doors and the sidewalks leading to the other doors. Despite university personnel opening and closing certain entrances based on the location of the protesters, the group was able to finalize its position at the student entrance.

Trenton Brooks of the UF Dream Defenders explained, “Our action today was to show that people cannot just go about their lives as if it's simply business as usual. There are systemic problems in this country and ignoring them just isn't an option.”

Chants included “No justice! No peace! No racist police!” and one specifically for the occasion “You only care about us when we are in jerseys!”

Farah Khan, of UF Students for a Democratic Society, talked about the impact the protest had on the game, “It definitely shook people up and left both attendants of the game and administration completely disoriented. Not a single person at that game could ignore us.”

#GainesvilleFl #PeoplesStruggles #UniversityOfFlorida #Antiracism #UF #EricGarner #Ferguson #MikeBrown #BlackLivesMatter

Gainesville, FL- 350 people, mostly students, marched from the Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial in downtown Gainesville to the intersection of University Avenue and 13th Street. In a dramatic action on Dec. 8, they marched through busy streets and then shut down the important intersection for 11 minutes in solidarity with Eric Garner.

Protesters began gathering at 4:00 p.m. at the Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial statue near City Hall. People were asked to show up wearing black and to bring black signs. Nailah Summers, coordinator of the Civic Media Center, began the event by inspiring the crowd with a variation of an Assata Shakur quote, “We have a duty to fight. We have a duty to win. We have the duty to love each other and protect each other. We have nothing to lose but our chains!” The crowds repeated after her as they filed into the heavy traffic of University Avenue.

The march took up two lanes, completely blocking the cars on one side of the road, while protesters chanted, “Black lives matter!” and “If we don’t get no justice, then you don’t get no peace!” Three police cars tailed the protesters closely. Onlookers took pictures, put their fists up in solidarity and a couple even joined the march.

The protesters arrived at University and 13th, one of the busiest intersections in Gainesville, at the height of rush hour. The crowds formed a giant circle, ensuring that no cars could get past them. At the center of the circle two protesters held a silver coffin while a Dream Defender activist gave a eulogy and spoke, “You tell us to fear ISIS, and yet every time I pass the police, I hold my breath!”

Protesters stood in the intersection for 11 minutes. This symbolized the 11 times Eric Garner said, “I can’t breathe”, as NYPD officer Daniel Pantaleo strangled him. At the end of the 11 minutes, everyone turned to face the cars and yelled, “What side are you on?”

Eric Brown, with Students for a Democratic Society, said “I think we're at a tipping point where people are tired of the status quo and are willing to literally put their bodies on the line to ensure that the systematic killings of Black bodies in America stops. The number of people who came out today is promising for future organizing around issues of national oppression. Ferguson is everywhere, and we have an obligation to use the air that Eric Garner can no longer inhale to fight for liberation.”

Brittany King, an organizer with University of Florida Dream Defenders, spoke about future plans in Gainesville, “We want Gainesville to wake up and realize that just because it doesn’t happen in Gainesville, it doesn’t mean it’s not happening everywhere else. While people are sleeping, more people are dying. Today was a testament that Gainesville is prepared to wake up and prepared to join the movement!”

People left the intersection and gathered into an empty lot where the event ended on a high note with plans for future action and chants of “I believe that we will win!”

#GainesvilleFl #GainesvilleFL #NewYork #Florida #EricGarner #Ferguson #MikeBrown #ShutItDown #BlackLivesMatter

The protest snowballed as it moved across campus, attracting more students with shouts of “Black lives matter!” and “Indict, convict, send those killers cops to jail!” The large group disrupted lunchtime in the student union building with a mass die-in. They then showed that even in the quietest library, the people would not be silenced. Chanting students occupied a bridge between academic buildings and the campus mall, attracting the attention of everyone on campus.

Similar to actions across the U.S., the Truman State protest voiced student outrage at recent grand jury decisions. The failure to indict the police officers that murdered Michael Brown and Eric Garner denies justice, with police seldom standing trial for their crimes. Much of the TSU student body comes from the Saint Louis area and several Truman students demonstrated in Ferguson during the semester. Earlier this fall in Saint Louis, two students participating in a QuikTrip sit-in were beaten, arrested and charged with unlawful assembly. Organizers were excited by the overwhelming turnout of students opposing the racist state violence targeting African American people, just as it has throughout U.S. history.

#KirksvilleMO #StudentsForADemocraticSociety #PoliceBrutality #EricGarner #MichaelBrown #Ferguson #TrumanStateUniversity

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.

Meredith Aby-Keirstead, an organizer with the Anti-War Committee, explained the importance of this year’s rally, “It’s important to talk about the U.S.’s horrible human rights record every year, but this year we have seen thousands of people in Minnesota take to the streets demanding an end to U.S.-sponsored human rights abuses in Palestine and to demand an end to police murders of African Americans in the U.S. There is a relationship between the warfare the U.S. sponsors abroad and what is happening in communities of color throughout this country and people want to take to the streets to demand social justice and real change.”

Laye Kwamina, a Minneapolis Southwest High School student, read an original poem which moved audience members to tears about the realities for African American men in the U.S. Kwamina is one of the organizers for the Dec. 8 student rally at the downtown Minneapolis Library against police brutality and he encouraged participants to continue protesting against police brutality.

Karmel Sabri, a Palestinian American activist with the Anti-War Committee explained at the closing rally how U.S. tax dollars sponsor Israeli military human rights abuses.

Jim Dimock, an anti-war activist and professor at Minnesota State University Mankato, spoke about human rights conditions in Colombia and the disastrous role that U.S. economic and military aid play in fanning the flames of Colombia’s civil war. The Anti-War Committee will be holding a more in-depth report-back with Dimock in January.

Mary Beaudoin, editor of the Women Against Military Madness newsletter, attended the recent trial of Rasmea Odeh and spoke out against the countless injustices visited on Odeh in her trial. Beaudoin called on the protesters to continue to demand #justice4Rasmea.

The protest was organized by the Minnesota Anti-War Committee and was endorsed by the Coalition for Palestinian Rights, the MN Immigrant Rights Action Coalition, the MN Peace Action Coalition, U of M Students for a Democratic Society, U of M Students for Justice in Palestine, Women Against Military Madness and the Welfare Rights Committee.

#MinneapolisMN #PoliceBrutality #TwinCitiesAntiWarCommittee #EricGarner #Ferguson #InternationalHumanRightsDay

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.

The Minneapolis started in South Minneapolis, then took over the northbound lanes of Interstate 35W, where several die-ins took place. They marched up I-35W into downtown and proceeded to Minneapolis City Hall. Sabry Wazwaz of the Anti-War Committee led chants for much of the march.

#MinneapolisMN #PoliceBrutality #EricGarner #Ferguson #MikeBrown

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.

The first speaker, Bárbara Ochoa, stated to the crowd's roar of approval, “Ferguson is not in a state of chaos, but a state of revolution.”

Another speaker, Karen Rodriguez said, “This is our time! This is our civil rights movement!” Her speech was interrupted by long applause.

The crowd chanted, “Dare to struggle, dare to win, never silent, never again!” reflecting protest leaders’ and families’ promises that this movement does not end with this protest. Organizers see this as the beginning of a long campaign to get justice for victims of police brutality in Utah.

Asked about the campaign for justice, Chris Manor, organizer for Utah Against Police Brutality said, “There is a truth in this situation – killer cops will no longer be able to get away with murder.”

The rally turned into a march that blocked streets and intersections. First, there was a march to the Matheson Court house, then a march to the Public Safety Building. When arriving at the Public Safety Building the protesters shouted, “From Ferguson to SLC, end police brutality!”

“There is no safety in the Public Safety Building. There is no justice in the courts. We need to look out for each other and there is only justice in the streets!” said Gregory Lucero of the Freedom Road Socialist Organization.

Protesters then marched back to the Federal Building where, in an effort to curb any attempts by the police to intimidate or repress the movement, Gregory Lucero led one last chant and then advised, “When an officer asks you about what somebody did, or who did something, what is the correct response, regardless of what you thought of it? I am happy not to talk to you.”

#SaltLakeCityUT #PoliceBrutality #MichaelBrown #Ferguson #DarrenWilson

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.

Students yelled, “Hands up, don’t shoot!” then they all simultaneously fell on the floor, lying down to represent the deaths of innocent Black and Brown youth at the hands of police officers. Afterwards, the students gathered and shared their feelings about racist cops and the Darren Wilson grand jury decision.

“I shouldn’t have to worry about being targeted by cops as I wait on the bus stop,” said UWM student Lavelle Young.

#MilwaukeeWI #StudentMovement #AfricanAmerican #PoliceBrutality #Antiracism #MichaelBrown #Ferguson #DarrenWilson #UWMilwaukee

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.

Eric Brown, speaking on behalf of Students for a Democratic Society, emphasized that Michael Brown was one of many police killings, “I have to ask the question. What do we mean when we say Black lives matter? Because for us to move forward, Black lives can't equal Black men, but must include women, trans people, and all the intersections that exist under the identity of Black.”

In between speeches, protesters chanted, “No justice! No peace!”

This past summer, when African Americans and others were protesting Brown’s murder in Ferguson, Palestine was coping with the Israeli invasion of Gaza. Palestinians tweeted and messaged the Ferguson protesters messages of solidarity and ways to deal with tear gas.

Farah Kahn, vice-president of University of Florida Students for Justice in Palestine, said, “The solidarity between Ferguson and Palestine shows the strength in uniting against a common enemy. There is a slow genocide happening in Palestine, and there is also a genocide happening right here within the U.S. against Black people and people of color.”

Nailah Summers, a Gainesville activist and the Civic Media Center coordinator, talked after the event, “I think Ferguson and the refusal to indict Darren Wilson for Michael Brown's murder tells us a few things many of us already knew. Black lives are less-than, aren't considered whole and worthy of even the most basic protections of the law. Look at how so much of the commentary following the announcement has revolved around Black 'animals' looting. 108 days fighting for scraps of the justice system and it's all been boiled down to this bullshit narrative.”

Summers continued, “The other thing Ferguson shows us is that it's time to get creative. We've been marching and singing and holding signs for more than half a century. And while all of those things have become inherent parts of our culture and the struggle for freedom, it's not working anymore. So it's time for us to hit the drawing board again because we're ready to fight back, we just have to figure out what that looks like.”

Along with University of Florida SDS and SJP, participating groups included Dream Defenders, Uhuru Solidarity, and Occupy Gainesville.

#GainesvilleFL #PoliceBrutality #MichaelBrown #Ferguson #DarrenWilson

The spokesperson for the DPRK Foreign Ministry went on to condemn the U.S. for interfering in the affairs of other countries while carrying out human rights abuses at home.

#DemocraticPeoplesRepublicOfKorea #PoliceBrutality #DPRK #NorthKorea #Ferguson #MikeBrown

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.

When students requested the media be allowed inside, the principal said no, and the decision was made to walk out. Students then marched up to Lake Street and to the Third Precinct Police Station, where there was chanting and speeches.

Larry Whiten, one of the students who organized the protest stated, “We needed to do this demonstration to show that the youth in our community are aware of the unjust things happening to our peers in our society. We are not oblivious to our surroundings. We organized this 500-person march and sit-in in less than 15 hours! We are unstoppable.

#MinneapolisMN #PoliceBrutality #Ferguson #MikeBrown #MinneapolisSouthHighSchool #SitIn

Led by a diverse array of student groups and coordinated by Students United Against Police Brutality, the rally began with a four and a half minute moment of silence as requested nationally by the family of Michael Brown; a minute of silence for each hour Michael Brown’s lifeless body was left on display in the streets of Ferguson after his murder by police on August 9.

The rally continued with speeches expressing solidarity with those fighting back against police brutality both in Ferguson and across the country. Members from Whose Diversity?, the Black Student Union, and the Friends of Chicano and Latino Studies all spoke about the links between police brutality in Ferguson and the manifestations of racist discrimination and national oppression at University of Minnesota. They spoke of racialized crime alerts leading to increased racial profiling of Black men on campus, of non-white student groups fighting to keep their own spaces open on the second floor of Coffman Memorial Union and of university threats to defund and shut down the Chicano Studies Department and other ethnic studies departments as well.

After the speeches, the students marched across the campus quad to Morrill Hall, UMN’s administration building, and chanted for several minutes before heading to the light rail station and joining up with the larger community rally at the Third Precinct Police Station.

Matt Boynton, a member of Students for a Democratic Society at UMN, stated, “The struggle against police brutality is of vital importance not only to Black and Brown youth targeted by the police, but to all people seeking to change the U.S. political system. From the era of slave catchers and lynch mobs to the present, police violence against oppressed nationality communities is an important way the U.S. elite has maintained it’s political and economic control and needs to be combated.”

#MinneapolisMN #Ferguson #MikeBrown

Asheville, NC – Over 200 people gathered downtown here, Nov. 25 in front of the Vance Monument to protest the grand jury decision not to indict Darren Wilson for the murder of Michael Brown.

One banner read, “Hold cops accountable! Solidarity with Ferguson!” Protesters held signs that read “Black lives matter” and “Jail all killer cops.”

Several people attending the rally got up to the megaphone to express solidarity. One woman said, “I came out tonight to rally against injustice. People make it a crime issue. People take a tragedy and make racist remarks and talk about looting and destroying property. When you have no voice, you resort to all means. I’m a mother. I’m a Black woman. My kids walk out the door and I have to know every minute of their whereabouts. It’s scary.”

The crowd chanted “No justice, no peace!” and “Darren Wilson, you can’t hide. We charge you with homicide!” while drums beat in the background. The evening ended with organizers lighting candles and reading names of unarmed African American people killed by police.

#AshevilleNC #Ferguson #MikeBrown

Jacksonville, FL – More than 30 people from the Jacksonville community gathered in Hemming Plaza downtown here, Nov. 24 to protest the Ferguson grand jury verdict and demand justice for Michael Brown.

Organized by the Jacksonville Progressive Coalition (JPC), the protest began a little over an hour before the verdict was announced. Within minutes of arriving, the crowd was forced out of the plaza by Jacksonville police officers, who claimed the park was closed. Undeterred by the police intimidation, the group regrouped on the sidewalk around the plaza and began chanting, “Michael Brown means we've got to fight back!”

Protesters carried signs reading, “Hands up! Don't shoot!” and “Justice for Michael Brown.” As the time of the verdict announcement grew closer, more people arrived and passing cars honked in support.

Several speakers addressed the protest to talk about the case in Ferguson and its relevance to Jacksonville. Fernando Figueroa, an organizer with the Jacksonville Progressive Coalition, said, “What happened to Michael Brown in Ferguson happens to young Black men in Jacksonville constantly.” Figueroa continued, “We know that this injustice system will never win justice for the victims of racist violence and police brutality. Justice doesn't come from the courts, but from us marching in the streets.”

After hearing from several speakers from the Jacksonville Progressive Coalition and the community, protesters gathered around a bullhorn to listen to the announcement. Holding their rally signs close, the crowd gasped as they heard the announcement that killer cop Darren Wilson would not face any criminal charges in the killing of Brown.

When the verdict was announced, protesters held four-and-a-half minutes of silence, which the Brown family requested to symbolize the four-and-a-half hours the Ferguson police left Michael's body in the hot midday sun after he was killed. Immediately after, the crowd broke into chants of “No justice! No peace! No racist police!”

The crowd marched around Hemming Plaza, drawing some more support from passing cars. As the event drew to a close, protesters vowed to continue building the movement to win justice for Michael Brown and stop racist police brutality.

#JacksonvilleFL #PoliceBrutality #JacksonvilleProgressiveCoalition #MichaelBrown #Ferguson #DarrenWilson

Miami, FL – On Nov. 25, nearly 200 community members in Miami held an angry protest. It was a reaction to the grand jury’s failure to indict Ferguson police officer Darren Wilson after he shot an unarmed African American teen, Mike Brown, to death in the street. The protesters chanted, “No justice, no peace!” and “If we don’t get it, shut it down!” Miami police arrested two organizers for standing in the wrong place. Later, protesters shut down traffic intersections.

At the beginning of the rally, police put caution tape around the area in front of the Miami-Dade Courthouse. The protesters marched through the tape, tearing it down. Two of the organizers, Philip Agnew and Jeremy Shaw, began speaking. Each of them were tackled to the ground and arrested by three police officers who claimed the protest leaders should not be standing on the steps. Protesters were infuriated. The rally continued with speakers for two hours before the group marched and took to the streets. Marching against oncoming traffic, they received great support from motorists in the street. The protesters were emboldened by the support of the people and began to shut down intersections. At this point, one motorist became aggressive and tried to run down marchers.

Protesters plan to continue to organize around these issues, with upcoming events including a solidarity protest with Mexican activists, a teach-in about the Florida State Attorney Angela Corey’s mistreatment of Marissa Alexander and gendered violence, and a strategy meeting of the Miami Committee on State Violence.

#MiamiFL #PoliceBrutality #MichaelBrown #Ferguson #DarrenWilson

Minneapolis, MN – An estimated 5000 people marched here, Nov. 25, in the wake of the Ferguson, Missouri grand jury decision to not indict the cop who murdered Mike Brown.

After filling the streets in front of the Minneapolis Police Third Precinct station, at the busy intersection of Lake Street and Minnehaha Avenue, protesters marched down both sides of the six-lane Highway 55, which is connected to the metro freeway system.

According to eye witnesses, one demonstrator was injured when a car driven by a white male purposely drove into demonstrators before the march. The injured woman was taken away in an ambulance.

Earlier in the day, hundreds of college students participated in a campus protest. Also, students at Minneapolis’ South High School held a large sit-in and march.

#MinneapolisMN #PoliceBrutality #MichaelBrown #Ferguson #DarrenWilson

The Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine stands with the people of Ferguson, and throughout the streets of the cities of the United States, who have taken to the streets once more after the prosecution and the U.S. legal injustice system as a whole failed to indict Darren Wilson, the police officer who killed Michael Brown in cold blood, meaning that he will not face trial or prosecution for this state-sanctioned murder of a young Black man by the police.

This comes as no surprise; the United States’ legal system is historically and at present a perpetrator of massive violence and imprisonment against Black people, just as U.S. imperialism is such a perpetrator against people and nations around the world.

As Palestinians, we are familiar with the injustice of colonial, racist courtrooms, mechanisms of a racist state, that sentence our people to prison en masse while wrapping the perpetrators of crimes, murders and genocide against our people in a cloak of “legality.”

And this system which we recognize all too well from the occupation regime in Palestine has learned well from this same system and structure which has existed for centuries in the United States, the key ally and strategic partner of the occupier.

We see the police forces in the United States, long a mechanism of state terror against Black people and other oppressed communities, escalating their oppression and impunity with massive militarization and military equipment – and we know that the occupation state is working hand in hand with US security agencies to provide training in yet more aggressive “security” tactics, tested in Palestine on our people for export around the world, particularly the United States, to be used against oppressed peoples and movements in struggle.

The Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine salutes the family of Mike Brown and all of the countless Black martyrs whose lives are taken by police in the United States, including Tamir Rice, 12 years old, and Akai Gurley, 28, in the past week. And we stand with the resistance of all of the people taking to the streets, in Ferguson and across the United States, demanding justice, and with the Black liberation movement and its long struggle, and urge all Palestinians and their friends and supporters to join these demonstrations and build stronger and deeper links of mutual struggle with these critically important movements.

#Palestine #AfricanAmerican #PoliceBrutality #PFLP #Ferguson