ATLANTA (AP) – Hundreds of demonstrators outraged by police killings of blacks in the U.S. held a sit-in outside the Georgia governor’s mansion in Atlanta late Monday, marking the fifth straight day of protests in the capital city.
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reports (http://on-ajc.com/29Khyia ) that Atlanta Mayor Kasim Reed and Police Chief George Turner appeared at the peaceful protest late Monday night and spoke privately with protest leaders before the crowd began dispersing before midnight.
Earlier Monday, the gathering protesters blocked a road near Atlanta’s Lenox Square mall before marching to the mansion amid chants of “justice” and “black lives matter.” The newspaper said marchers prevented motorists from entering the mall. Some beat drums as they walked several blocks to the governor’s mansion, three police cars following them.
“Whose streets? Our streets,” the protesters chanted, according to the report.
At a news conference hours earlier Monday, Reed said police had shown “extraordinary restraint” during several earlier nights of protests in Atlanta over the police killings of black men in Louisiana and Minnesota. About 15,000 attended other protests over the weekend.