MOSCOW, November 27 (Sputnik) — New Yorkers took to the streets on Thursday in protest of Macy's 88th annual Thanksgiving Day parade in hopes of bringing attention to the situation in Ferguson, Missouri, following Monday's jury decision.
Protesters spread word of the event via Twitter with the hashtag #stoptheparade. One protester wrote, "#stoptheparade because this country won't be upset by anything until we take their balloons away. Pay attention to Ferguson."
Another protester wrote on Twitter, "remind me again why the #stoptheparade protests aren't being broadcasted? that is SO important. black lives > giant balloons."
The parade was held from 9:00 a.m. local time (14:00 GMT) to noon and began in Times Square. Protesters said on Twitter that they would march along the same route. Since the parade, videos of Ferguson protesters getting handcuffed have already surfaced according to #Ferguson LiveUpdate on Twitter.
Protesters have taken to the streets both in Ferguson and cities across the nation following the grand jury decision on Monday which decided not to bring charges against white police officer Darren Wilson for shooting and killing Michael Brown, an unarmed African-American 18-year-old, during an altercation in a backstreet in a Ferguson suburb on August 9.
The controversial decision spawned a fresh round of protests in major cities across the United States and in Ferguson, where protesters and rioters clashed with police and a beefed-up deployment of 2,200 members of the National Guard.
The number of protesters dwindled on Wednesday night and Thursday morning, with snowstorms, cold weather and celebrations of the national US Thanksgiving holiday keeping many people off the streets after two nights of often-violent hooliganism.
