An estimated 2,500 people took to the streets of Staten Island on Saturday to protest the death of Eric Garner, an unarmed black man who died in a chokehold by a white police officer. The rally was led by Rev. Al Sharpton and relatives of Garner, who was stopped by police for selling loose cigarettes. Protesters carried signs bearing the words “I can’t breathe,” Garner’s last words, and “Hands Up, Don’t Shoot,” the phrase which emerged in Ferguson, Missouri protests over the death of Michael Brown. No police officers present wore riot gear.
