WASHINGTON — As Ferguson, Missouri burned after the decision by a grand jury not to indict police officer Darren Wilson over the shooting of 18-year-old Michael Brown, students from the historically black college Howard University, accompanied by other protesters, marched through Washington, D.C. to express their anger over the verdict.
The crowd, numbering in the hundreds, massed outside of the White House under the watchful eye of police and Secret Service officers. The crowd chanted “Black Power!” and “No justice! No peace!” as their numbers steadily grew as more protesters joined from all directions.
Speakers vocalized their anger over the verdict via a portable microphone system, and the crowd staged a “die in” in front of the White House fence where protesters chanted and used their cell phones to document the moment.
After an impassioned plea by speakers in the march urging the protestors not to forget their anger and continue to cause disruption in the coming days the crowd began move off in a loud but peaceful column.
Flanked by D.C. police on motorcycles, the protesters marched east across the city through Chinatown and up to Union Station. At times the mass of people stretched more than a city block. At several intersections the crowd staged sit down protests, bringing traffic to a standstill.
Upon reaching Union Station the crowd turned and headed up Capitol Hill before matching on to the Supreme Court where they rushed the steps of America’s highest court. Security officers retreated up the marble steps of the court as the human wave flooded the steps, where they delivered a speech.