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Americans protest against police brutality in New Jersey

Sunday, 26 July 2015 3:31 PM [ Last Update: Monday, 27 July 2015 7:08 AM ]

Hundreds rally against police brutality in Newark, New Jersey on July 25, 2015.

Hundreds of angry protesters took to the streets in Newark, New Jersey, on Saturday to protest against police brutality following the death of a black woman in jail.

The demonstration, organized by People’s Organization for Progress (POP) in Newark, was held at the Lincoln Monument, were hundreds of people, some of them relatives of police brutality victims, chanted slogans demanding the American public to respond to the death of Sandra Bland and other cases of police violence in the country.

Bland, 28, was found dead in her cell three days into being jailed for a minor traffic incident.

POP chairman Lawrence Hamm addressed the crowd, saying "our message today is simple, stop killing us!"

The activist also called for an end to the “pandemic of police brutality” which he called a stark violation of human rights in the United States.”

According to Hamm, Newark was specifically chosen to host the rally to commemorate the 1967 riots against racial profiling and economic inequality.

American philosopher Cornel West addresses protesters.

American philosopher and academic Cornel West was next to give his much-anticipated speech. West called on the protesters to incorporate the spirit of 1967 “uprising” during the rally.

He also emphasized the continuation of the uprising, saying, “Fifty years later and we're still dealing with the legacy of white supremacy and inequality.”

Relatives of Abdul Kamal, Kashad Ashford and Jerame Reid, all African-American men shot to death by New Jersey police, also took stage and addressed the crowd.

Kamal was shot dead by Irvington police in 2013. Ashford, 23, was also shot by police in 2014 and Reid was killed in a traffic stop in January.

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