Articles On Information: Dozens Arrested During Brooklyn Bridge Protest Against Police Violence

Dozens Arrested During Brooklyn Bridge Protest Against Police Violence

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<a href="http://articlesoninformation.blogspot.com/" target="_blank"><img alt="http://articlesoninformation.blogspot.com/" class="media-viewer-candidate" data-mediaviewer-caption="Demonstrators protesting police violence crossing the Brooklyn Bridge on Tuesday. Dozens were arrested, several assaults on officers were reported and traffic was disrupted for several hours." data-mediaviewer-credit="Michael Appleton for The New York Times" data-mediaviewer-src="http://static01.nyt.com/images/2015/04/15/nyregion/15PROTESTFLOATER/15PROTESTFLOATER-superJumbo.jpg" height="424" itemid="http://static01.nyt.com/images/2015/04/15/nyregion/15PROTESTFLOATER/15PROTESTFLOATER-master675.jpg" itemprop="url" src="http://static01.nyt.com/images/2015/04/15/nyregion/15PROTESTFLOATER/15PROTESTFLOATER-master675.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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Dozens
 of participants in a march intended to protest police violence were 
arrested on Tuesday as the demonstration crossed the Brooklyn Bridge and
 caused major delays there during the evening rush.</div>
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Stephen
 Davis, the Police Department’s chief spokesman, said 34 people had been
 arrested by 6:40 p.m. That number was expected to rise overnight as 
precincts in Brooklyn and Manhattan reported arrests, he said.</div>
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There
 were also reports of assaults on police officers, including one 
involving an off-duty police sergeant who was punched in the face when 
he got out of his car, Mr. Davis said. The officer was treated at Lower 
Manhattan Hospital, and the assailant has not been caught, Mr. Davis 
said.</div>
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The police said they were also investigating a report of an officer being struck in the head by a beer bottle.</div>
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In a statement, Mayor Bill de Blasio said the violence against the police officers was unacceptable.</div>
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“And
 any other person who might use the right to peaceful protest as cover 
to initiate violence, cause mayhem or incite disorder — whether against 
the police, the people or property of our great city — should consider 
themselves on notice that New York City will not stand for it.”</div>
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Witnesses and <a href="https://twitter.com/KeeganNYC/status/588091170611404801" title="Twitter posting">accounts on social media</a> described protesters being <a href="https://twitter.com/JamesFTInternet/status/588092102057324545" title="Twitter posting">rounded up</a> and <a href="https://twitter.com/KeeganNYC/status/588092305657176065" title="Twitter posting">put in police vans</a>. There were also reports of objects being thrown at police officers and scuffles between officers and demonstrators.</div>
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The
 Stop Mass Incarceration Network organized the march, one of several 
across the country. About 400 people participated in the early part of 
the demonstration, which began at Union Square at 2 p.m. and wound down 
Broadway toward Police Department headquarters in Lower Manhattan.</div>
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Around
 4:15 p.m., some of the protesters split off and went to the Brooklyn 
Bridge, where they broke through a police barricade. Some jumped over a 
fence and onto the westbound traffic lanes.</div>
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Traffic in those lanes was disrupted for several hours.</div>
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Some protesters <a href="https://twitter.com/KeeganNYC/status/588099664139984897" title="Twitter posting">continued on Flatbush Avenue</a> toward the Barclays Center.</div>
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The demonstration follows the most recent in a string of fatal police encounters with unarmed black men.</div>
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Walter
 Scott, 50, of North Charleston, S.C., was shot and killed by a police 
officer on April 4. A cellphone video showed the officer, Michael 
Slager, firing eight shots as Mr. Scott ran away, and later dropping his
 service <a href="http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/subjects/s/stun_guns/index.html?inline=nyt-classifier" title="More articles about stun guns.">Taser</a> next to the body. Mr. Slager was fired and was charged with murder.</div>
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Before the march, <a href="http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/w/cornel_west/index.html?inline=nyt-per" title="More articles about Cornel West.">Cornel West</a>,
 a prominent black scholar, spoke at Union Square about what he said was
 his frustration with black leaders’ inability to produce charges and 
convictions against the officers involved in the shootings.</div>
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“Don’t
 be confused by some black faces in high places,” he said. “For seven 
years, there have been black and brown brothers and sisters shot down by
 the police.”</div>
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He
 noted that the president, the attorney general and the secretary of 
homeland security were all black. “And not one policeman sent to jail,” 
Mr. West said.</div>
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