PHOENIX (AP) - Demonstrators marched through the streets of Phoenix and Scottsdale in two separate protests for social justice in memory of a black man who was killed by an Arizona police officer.
Organizers in Phoenix said a line of demonstrators stretched nearly a mile (1.61 kilometers) Sunday, The Arizona Republic reported.
“This is not for us,” organizers announced as they reached the Arizona Department of Public Safety headquarters. ” Who is it for? Dion Johnson!”
Dion Johnson, 28, was fatally shot in north Phoenix by a Department of Public Safety officer May 25.
A trooper on motorcycle patrol saw a car stopped on a freeway on-ramp and found Johnson passed out in the driver’s seat. The trooper said that while arresting Johnson for driving while intoxicated, Johnson attempted to grab his gun and the trooper opened fire, authorities said.
Protesters kneeled outside of the public safety department headquarters to denounce the deaths of black men and women at the hands of police nationwide.
In Scottsdale, up to 1,000 protesters walked through the city’s Old Town Sunday, with Scottsdale Police Chief Alan Rodbell marching in uniform near the front.
Hundreds of protesters stopped underneath the Scottsdale Civic Center Mall bridge for several minutes to take a knee for George Floyd. Rodbell kneeled alongside demonstrators.
Floyd, a black man, died after a white Minneapolis police officer pressed his knee on Floyd’s neck for nearly nine minutes while he was handcuffed and lying on the ground. His death prompted protests across the U.S. and around the world against police brutality and racial injustice.
Johnson was killed on the same day as Floyd.
“What we’ve gone through in our lifetimes is just an inkling of suffering and challenge that the people that we’re marching for go through in their lifetime,” said Gina Shirah, who participated in the Phoenix march.
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