Protesters who have been marching in the streets of New York all month said they will continue despite the shooting deaths Saturday of two NYPD officers,
The Wall Street Journal reports.
The protests center on the lack of indictment of white police officers in the deaths of two black men, Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri, and Eric Garner in Staten Island, New York.
Protest leaders say their actions have no connection to the killings of officers Rafael Ramos and Wenjian Liu and they will continue their protests Sunday night even as a candlelight vigil was held for the two officers.
Ismaaiyl Abdula Brinsley, 28, killed the officers as they were sitting in their patrol car. He had ranted against the government and police on his Instagram account and had invoked the names of Brown and Garner.
"We realize the sensitivity of this time, Tamika Mallory, a board member of Justice League NYC, told the Journal. She said the protesters will pray for the officer's at the vigil.
"We still want justice for Eric Garner," Mallory said. "We expect that the police will respect our constitutional right to protest."
Still, tensions have risen in the past week as two police officers were attacked trying to make an arrest during the protests in New York. And video surfaced of one group of protesters marching down the street chanting, "What do we want? Dead cops! When do we want it? Now!"
The Rev. Al Sharpton and other organizers say those chants do not represent the majority of protesters.
© 2025 Newsmax. All rights reserved.