NYPD Commissioner Bratton Splattered with Fake Blood During Protests for Michael Brown
Protests took place across the country last night after the grand jury in Ferguson failed to indict officer Darren Wilson for the shooting death of Michael Brown. In NYC, thousands of protesters swarmed Times Square and eventually shut down the Brooklyn, Manhattan and Triborough bridges.
In the midst of the Times Square protest, one activist threw fake blood on NYPD Commissioner Bill Bratton.
BREAKING: #NYC Police Commissioner Bratton splattered with fake blood at #Justice4MikeBrown protest http://t.co/GHa6ZWYcKq— Jeff Rae (@Jeff Rae) 1416887748
Bratton has been fiercely criticized for the NYPD's broken-windows policy of policing that focuses on patrolling communities of color and cracking down on low-level crimes. His theory is replicated in police departments nationwide. In Ferguson, Officer Darren Wilson approached Michael Brown for not walking on the sidewalk. Last week, an NYPD officer was patrolling a public housing unit when he “accidentally” shot and killed an unarmed black male named Akai Gurley.
Protesters in NYC used the fake blood that ran off Bratton to send a powerful message on the streets:
Mike Brown's name now scrawled into the fake blood that was thrown around Times Square.
A photo posted by Nick Carbone (@carbonen) on
Protests also took place in Washington, D.C, Chicago, Seattle, Philadelphia, Los Angeles, and Oakland, CA.
Protestors shutdown the 580 freeway in #Oakland during the protest last night. It took several officers to reopen it http://t.co/ZweMH4jXcO— KTVU (@KTVU) 1416915437
Protestors in NYC have taken the Brooklyn Bridge roadway, traffic is stopped. #Ferguson #BlackLivesMatter http://t.co/aUFIxMLWVF— Robert Pluma (@Robert Pluma) 1416894660
In Ferguson, police chiefs had refused to rule out tear gas and rubber bullets. Numerous protesters were injured from both. This was the police response to one woman apparently having a heart attack:
The St. Louis County Police Department sent out this absurd lie in a tweet:
Police are not deploying tear gas. They are using #smoke to break up unruly crowds. #Ferguson— St. Louis County PD (@St. Louis County PD) 1416885672
More than 100 actions nationwide have been planned around the grand jury announcement.