Second night of US protests following Eric Garner decision

Protests flared in the US for a second night on Thursday following the decision by a New York grand jury not to indict a white police officer for the death of an unarmed black man.

Wednesday's decision meant no charge was brought to Daniel Pantaleo for putting 43-year-old Eric Garner in a chokehold, which resulted in his death in July.

Day two of protests in New York began with marches at the evening rush hour, which picked up numbers as demonstrators weaved between cars and trucks, often bringing traffic to a near standstill.

As protesters paraded through lower Manhattan, they staged sporadic sit-ins at intersections, before police in riot gear approached and warned them to move along or face arrest.

A second and third wave of marchers later crossed two bridges into Manhattan from Brooklyn, briefly closing both roads to traffic. They then converged at the ferry terminal at Manhattan’s southern tip.

Protester Sharon Gordon, 52, said: “There’s been a confluence of social media and outrage. I do believe for the first time we’re about to make a change.”

Demonstrations also erupted on Thursday in several other cities, including Boston, Chicago and Washington, DC.

In Minneapolis, dozens of protesters blocked traffic on a major interstate road, at times marching or lying down in the middle of the highway.

Full investigation

US attorney general Eric Holder on Thursday promised a full investigation into the incident.

Mr Pantaleo could still face disciplinary action from an internal police investigation, his lawyer Stuart London said, adding that he expects that process to move quickly and that his client would be exonerated.

A departmental investigation will likely focus on whether Pantaleo employed a chokehold, banned by New York Police Department regulations, in restraining Garner as he and other officers sought to arrest him for allegedly selling cigarettes illegally on a Staten Island sidewalk in July.

Mr London said in an interview on Thursday that his client testified to the New York grand jury that he never put pressure on Garner’s neck, saying he used proper take-down technique.

Reuters