Post by Admin on Jan 20, 2015 13:31:08 GMT
Tributes and rallies were held around the U.S. on Monday to celebrate the life and legacy of Martin Luther King Jr. In cities nationwide, demonstrators also used the occasion to protest inequality and injustice. This year's King holiday followed several high-profile incidents in which unarmed black men were killed by police.
Americans should act against injustice — but they should remember King's message of nonviolence, his daughter, the Rev. Bernice King, told a gathering in Atlanta. "He taught us that we still have a choice to make: nonviolent coexistence or violent co-annihilation," she said. Here's a collection of photographs chronicling the holiday.
The King tributes came against a backdrop of recent national protests over the deaths of unarmed black men and youths at the hands of the police around the U.S. And scattered protests flared anew Monday: several dozen demonstrators blocked traffic while marching in Cleveland, Ohio, and protests over the deaths were reported in St. Louis, Missouri and Seattle. Dozens of protesters were detained after blocking a bridge in San Mateo, California, authorities said. In Atlanta, King's daughter, the Rev. Bernice King, urged those gathered at Ebenezer Baptist Church for the 47th annual Martin Luther King Jr. Annual Commemorative Service to act out against injustice. She also said they should heed her father's message of nonviolence.
Protesters in California, many of them students at Stanford University, blocked the San Mateo-Hayward Bridge, forcing westbound lanes to close for more than an hour Monday night, authorities said. The California Highway Patrol said numerous protesters were in custody and dozens could be seen being loaded into vans and taken off the bridge. Elsewhere, the Northeast Ohio Media Group reported about 60 people gathered Monday at a recreation center where a Cleveland police officer fatally shot the 12-year-old. Their march ended at the city's public square and police told the group some arrests were made.
In Seattle, authorities reported a handful of arrests after dozens chanting "black lives matter" disrupted traffic in Seattle, blocking part of a state highway and interstate off-ramps. Seattle officials advised motorists to take alternate routes for a time. The deaths have sparked a nationwide debate over police use of force, further fueled after two New York City police officers were shot to death last month by a man who suggested in online posts that he was retaliating for deaths in Missouri and New York. The gunman, who was black, committed suicide.