Kimani “Kiki” Gray, age 16, was shot by police on Saturday night. Protests and vigils are continuing in his neighborhood.
There is an excellent story at Gothamist (hat tip to Occupy Wall St NYC Twitter for the link). Excerpt below. The whole story gives interesting details, and perspectives from the family, neighborhood, and status quo.
(excerpt from) Gothamist
“Don’t Shoot Me”: Cops Arrest And Pepper Spray Protesters At Third Kimani Gray Vigil
For the third night in a row, people took to the streets of East Flatbush to voice their outrage at the NYPD’s fatal shooting of Kimani “Kiki” Gray. Though the 16-year-old’s death was the most obvious catalyst the night’s protest, it was clear that frustration with the NYPD extended beyond this one case, as demonstrators taunted cops all night with chants of “Don’t Shoot Me!”Over the course of four hours, people from Kimani’s neighborhood mixed with activists from other parts of NYC, marching through the predominantly African-American neighborhood and numbering in the hundreds at the protest’s peak. The demonstrators at times walked down the middle of Church Avenue, regularly chanting “No justice, no peace.”…
At other times, police used pepper spray on demonstrators, as well as orange nets to “kettle” one group. At least some of the people arrested in that group were on their way home and had nothing to do with the night’s action.
An NYPD spokesman tells us they’re “still ascertaining and tabulating” the number of people arrested last night, explaining that some were issued summons while others were “sent through the system” (meaning at least one night in the Tombs). We saw at least 13 arrests, and the total number could easily be double that if not more. (The Post hears 50.) Many of those arrests resulted in a teenager on the pavement with three or four cops crowding over them. One particularly tense stand-off between a female demonstrator and a male police officer began with the cop telling her to get on the sidewalk, and her responding, “Or what, you’ll shoot me?” The officer, whose helmet had the number 7987 on it, said, “No, but I’ll slap you.”…
Full story continued at Gothamist: here
Filed under: activism, News, progressive politics, social & economic justice Tagged: | Brooklyn news, New York City Police Department, nyc news, NYPD, Police Abuse, police shooting
