The protest was triggered by the death of Eric Garner, a 43-year-old asthmatic street peddler selling untaxed cigarettes, who died from suffocation after being put in a chokehold by white police officer Daniel Pantaleo in New York City on July 19. A grand jury decided not to indict Pantaleo earlier this month.
The decision came after a Missouri grand jury announced on November 24 that it would not bring charges against Darren Wilson, a white police officer who shot and killed unarmed African-American teenager Michael Brown in Ferguson on August 9.
The killings of unarmed African-Americans by white police officers have led to a massive public outcry and waves of nation-wide protests over racial inequality in the United States.
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