ATLANTA – A protest in which participants played dead to demonstrate against recent killings by police drew more than 200 people in Atlanta.
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reports protesters staged a “die-in” Saturday afternoon on an overpass in midtown Atlanta. Protesters laid down on the bridge’s sidewalk as traffic whizzed by and remained silent for 15 ½ minutes.
The timing was symbolic. Organizers said 11 minutes represented the number of times Eric Garner said “I can’t breathe” while a New York police officer held him in a chokehold. The remaining 4 ½ minutes represented the number of hours Michael Brown’s body lay uncovered in the street after he was shot by an officer in Ferguson, Missouri.
Grand juries declined to return indictments against the officers in each case, prompting protests nationwide.