Eric Garner, Mike Brown, Tamir Rice Police Protests Planned For This Weekend

Eric Garner, Michael Brown and Tamir Rice, the African-Americans who died at the hands of white police officers, have become the rallying chants of protesters nationwide advocating for reforms that better protect minorities from police brutality.

The latest protests broke out Wednesday in New York, San Francisco, Boston and other cities after a grand jury announced it had declined to indict the police officer who fatally choked Garner, 43, in Staten Island, New York. The decision came a week after a grand jury in Missouri declined to indict the officer who fatally shot Brown, 18, on Aug. 9 after an altercation.

Protests continued Thursday and Friday with protesters marching through streets, sitting in streets, lying down in “die-ins” and chanting “I can’t breathe,” some of Garner’s last words as heard in a video of his July 15 confrontation with police for allegedly selling illegal cigarettes on the street. More than 300 protesters have already been arrested in New York, largely for disorderly conduct like blocking traffic. The Justice Department has launched an investigation into the deaths of Garner and Brown.

Tamir Rice, 12, was fatally shot by a police officer Nov. 22 in Cleveland after reaching for a toy gun in his waistband. A 911 caller had reported that someone was pointing a pistol at people in the park, but the caller’s guess that the gun was probably a fake was not relayed to the officers.

More protests are scheduled to take place this weekend:

Friday, Dec. 5

San Diego: City Heights Performance Annex, 3791 Fairmount Ave., 6 p.m.

Austin: Travis County Courthouse, 1000 Guadalupe St., 7 p.m.

Phoenix: First Friday Art Walk, 132 S. Central Ave., 8 p.m.

Saturday, Dec. 6

Lawrenceville, New Jersey: Die-in at the Quaker Bridge Mall, 150 Quakerbridge Mall, 11:45 a.m.

Hartford: Keney Park, Main St. and Albany Ave., Woodland Sreet entrance, noon.

Houston: Starbucks on Westheimer, 2521 Post Oak Blvd., noon.

Anchorage, Alaska: NAACP Anchorage office, 325 E. Third Ave, No. 400, 2 p.m.

Cherry Hill, New Jersey: Unitarian Universalist Church, 401 N. Kings Highway, 2 p.m.

Corvallis, Oregon: Corvallis Courthouse, 560 SW Madison Ave., 3 p.m.

Richmond, Indiana: Glen Miller Park, 22nd and E. Main Sts., 3 p.m.

Rochester, Maryland: Salvation Army parking lot, 201 Ninth St. SE, 4 p.m.

Lexington, Kentucky: Third Street Stuff, 257 N. Limestone, 5 p.m..

Riverside, California: Blood Orange Infoshop, 3485 University Ave. No. 2, 5 p.m.

Scranton, Pennsylvania: Lackawanna County Courthouse, 200 N. Washington St., 8 p.m.

Monday, Dec. 8

Poughkeepsie, New York: U.S. Bankruptcy Court, at the federal courthouse, 347 Main St., noon-2 p.m.

Xenia, Ohio: Greene County Courthouse, 45 North Detroit St., 4:30 to 6 p.m.

Tuesday, Dec. 9

Philadelphia: Blackout vigil at Temple University’s belltower, 6 p.m.