Following a die-in and demonstration on the Syracuse University campus, more than 200 protesters shut down the street in front the justice center in Syracuse last night as they marched down the hill into downtown Syracuse.
They chanted and carried signs that said things like "jail killer cops," "stop police terrorism" and "we can’t breathe." As protesters sat on the street in front of the justice center, the focus wasn’t so much on the deaths of Michael Brown or Eric Garner, cases that are driving an explosion of anti-police rallies across the country, but alleged cases of brutality in Syracuse.
Micah Dexter, of the Salem Church of Syracuse, recently returned to central New York from Florida, and says he’s seen what he called horrific things happen here involving police.
"That’s people being stopped and because you question, and ask a question about why you're being stopped, you’re drug out of a vehicle and beaten, and charged with harassment or impeding a police investigation," Dexter said.
Madeline Lopez, of Syracuse, told the story of alleged police brutality against her son.
"It needs to stop," Lopez said. "We need people to speak up because if we don’t speak up, we’re not going to be heard and our children are going to keep getting hurt. Our children are dying and nobody is listening.”
She adds that police are responsible for their actions.
“They need to be held accountable," Lopez said. "You can’t honor the badge that you carry and make your own rules along the way, you know.”
Activists are meeting later today to discuss their strategy going forward. Organizer Derek Ford says they’ll discuss ways to encourage city hall to create a more specific use of force policy for the Syracuse Police Department.
“We want the city to actually have a use of force policy for police," Ford said. "Right now it basically says that police can do whatever they want to achieve a law enforcement objective.”
In the meantime, Ford says protesters should make plans to keep making noise.
"We need to have more protests, more demonstrations, more marches, so that the police know that if they beat someone up there’s going to be a public outcry about it," Ford explained.
He expects there will be more local protests in coming weeks to keep a spotlight on an issue that has spurred demonstrations across the country.