Ferguson protests hit Black Friday in US

Ferguson protests hit Black Friday in US
By Euronews
Share this articleComments
Share this articleClose Button
ADVERTISEMENT

Hundreds of protesters gathered outside Macy’s in New York as part of Black Out Black Friday demos across US cities.

And we're on the streets again. RockawayYouth</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/BlackFridayBlackOut?src=hash">#BlackFridayBlackOut</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/ShutItDownNYC?src=hash">#ShutItDownNYC</a> <a href="http://t.co/qUErEhyiuL">pic.twitter.com/qUErEhyiuL</a></p>&mdash; saxlepres (saxlepres) November 28, 2014

The action to boycott the shopping bonanza was part of the protests over the killing of unarmed black teen Michael Brown by white police officer Darren Wilson in Ferguson Missouri.

The protesters chanted ‘Hand’s up, Don’t shop’, a riff on the original Ferguson protest motto ‘Hand’s up, Don’t shoot’.

“Voicing your opinion is not enough. You have to disrupt business as usual for this to happen and that’s the only thing that’s ever made change. It’s the real way democracies function. And so we are here on the busiest shopping day of the year in one of the commercial centers of the world to remind people that lives matter before profit. You cannot profit without lives,” explained protester Sergio Uzurin.

NYPD officers made several arrests for people blocking streets and jaywalking.

Other protests took place in Chicago, Seattle, San Francisco and Oakland, California.

Back on Market St. #BlackFridayBlackout#SF#MikeBrown#BlackLivesMatter#Fergusonpic.twitter.com/o5VeQmhSzE

— Jimi Devine (@JimiDevine) November 29, 2014

Activists shut down one mall near Ferguson with their lie-in protest.

The killing of Michael Brown has highlighted the treatment of African Americans by police and triggered months of protests.

US retailers did mark a slump in sales, although this was attributed to the discounts being spread over two days rather than one.

In separate protests on Black Friday, Walmart workers staged a strike calling for higher wages and improved working conditions.

Bay Area turning out for worker rights. #BoycottBlackFridayDianaValerie</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/BlackFridayBlackOut?src=hash">#BlackFridayBlackOut</a> <a href="http://t.co/XwaXUpQRpE">pic.twitter.com/XwaXUpQRpE</a></p>&mdash; Shoshanna Howard (Sho_How) November 28, 2014

Share this articleComments

You might also like

Trump's lawyers say it is impossible for him to post bond covering $454 million fraud case

Joe Biden delivers barnstorming State of the Union address

Trump and Biden romp to victory in Super Tuesday primaries