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Americans protest against racial and economic injustice

Tuesday, 19 January 2016 8:34 AM [ Last Update: Tuesday, 19 January 2016 4:26 PM ]

Protesters rallied on a Mississippi River bridge that connects Minneapolis and St. Paul during a Martin Luther King Day rally on Monday afternoon.

American protesters have staged nationwide demonstrations to mark Martin Luther King's Day and protest against racial and economic injustice in the United States.

Protesters on Monday afternoon met in the middle of the Lake Street Bridge, which spans the Mississippi River between Minneapolis and St. Paul in Minnesota, and shut it down.

Police arrested a number of demonstrators. In Minneapolis, protesters called on authorities to punish the police officers who killed 24-year-old African-American Jamar Clark during a confrontation. They demanded the officers be prosecuted by the Hennepin County prosecutor Mike Freeman without a grand jury.

In St. Paul, family members took to the streets following the one year anniversary of Marcus Golden’s death.

“It may be four degrees but our hearts are warm with justice,” said Monique Cullars-Doty, Golden’s aunt.

St. Paul police shot and killed 24-year-old Marcus Golden on January 14, 2015, after investigators say he drove his vehicle towards an officer at high speed.

Golden’s family called on the St. Paul Police Department and Chief Tom Smith to reopen his case and launch both an independent investigation as well as investigation by the Department of Justice.

Meanwhile, hundreds of fast-food workers gathered in Charleston, South Carolina, calling for a minimum wage of $15 an hour. New York's LaGuardia Airport employees also rallied, making a similar demand. Dozens of them were arrested by police.

In Oakland, a group of demonstrators shut down a McDonald's restaurant, protesting against the harassment of employees by managers and the poor working conditions.

Organizers were detained by police after they refused to leave the store. Airport workers in nine other cities are also planning to block traffic and demand a rise in minimum wage.

Meanwhile, in San Francisco and Annapolis, rights activists and supporters of the 'Black Lives Matter' called for an end to police brutality and racial profiling.

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