Thousands of demonstrators blocked streets here after a grand jury decided not to charge a white police officer for causing the death of an unarmed black man with a chokehold.
Mostly peaceful protests sprang up on Wednesday evening throughout Manhattan, including at Grand Central Terminal, Times Square and near Rockefeller Center, after the panel opted not to indict the officer, Daniel Pantaleo.
The police reported about 30 arrests by mid-evening, but declined to provide updated figures overnight.
The U.S. Justice Department said it was investigating whether the civil rights of the dead man, 43-year-old father of six Eric Garner, were violated. Garner was accused of illegally selling cigarettes on a sidewalk when Mr. Pantaleo put him in a chokehold from behind and tackled him with the help of other officers. The police said he had resisted arrest.
The city’s medical examiner said the police officers killed Garner by compressing his neck and chest, and ruled the death a homicide, adding that Curtis’s asthma and obesity had contributed to his death.
The encounter on Staten Island was captured on a video that spread over the Internet and fuelled a debate about how U.S. police use force, particularly against minorities. The video shows Garner arguing with police, saying, “Please leave me alone,” before Mr. Pantaleo puts him in a chokehold. With officers holding him down, Garner pleads with them, saying repeatedly, “I can’t breathe.”
Chokeholds are prohibited by New York Police regulations, but the municipal police union said the officers involved acted within the law.
In contrast to the Ferguson protests, the ones in New York were civil. The police allowed demonstrators to block traffic briefly before coaxing them to move on.
In one of several “die-ins,” demonstrators lay on the pavement silently about a block from where the Christmas tree lighting ceremony was under way at Rockefeller Center.
U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder told reporters in Washington that the Justice Department would examine the Garner case, as well as the local inquiry into it.
