Protesters took to the streets across Massachusetts to protest a grand jury’s decision not to indict a white Ferguson, Missouri, officer who fatally shot an unarmed black teenager.
The largest protest was in Boston where an estimated 1,500 people marched from Dudley Square in the Roxbury neighborhood down Massachusetts Avenue to the South Bay area. Police blocked a ramp leading to Interstate 93 to prevent the group from attempting to go on the highway.
More than two dozen people were arrested.
Some organizers of the Boston protest say they’ve been training in civil disobedience for weeks and they say, “it shows we have unity and there are powers in numbers, because they’re going to be other struggles and we know now we can mobilized.”
Some smaller marches and protests occurred in other cities across Massachusetts, including Springfield, Worcester, Northampton and Pittsfield. All were reportedly peaceful.
A community forum to discuss the events in Ferguson was held earlier Tuesday at the Twelfth Baptist Church inBoston. Among those attending were Boston Mayor Martin Walsh and Governor-elect Charlie Baker.
