Americans protest US police shootings

Hundreds of American demonstrators held a march in Albuquerque, New Mexico on Sunday to protest fatal shootings by the police, including the one that led to the killing of James Boyd, a homeless man who lived on the foothills of a mountain outside the city.

The protest came days after the emergence of a YouTube video which threatened retaliation of the police shooting of Boyd and called for protest marches.

The demonstration began Sunday afternoon and continued into the early evening as people marched around the city and chanted “no justice, no peace!” Police said the march was an unlawful assembly.

Alexander Siderits, 23, said he was “fed up” with how police treat citizens. “It has reached a boiling point,” he said, “and people just can’t take it anymore.”

A similar demonstration was also held last Tuesday during which protestors chanted “We want justice,” holding signs “APD is guilty,” and demanded justice for Boyd.

Boyd, 38, was killed on March 16 by police officers while camping in the foothills of the Sandia Mountains on the east side of Albuquerque. Police accused him of setting up an illegal camp in an open space and fired six times at him.

A helmet camera video showed the homeless gathering his belongings and turning away to leave the area just before the police shot him.

Last week, Albuquerque police shot another man dead at a public housing complex.

Since 2010, the city’s police officers have been involved in 37 shooting incidents, 23 of them deadly, with critics saying that is far too many for a department serving a city of about 555,000.

The police department has been under investigation by the US Justice Department for more than a year. It now faces complaints of civil rights violations and allegations of excessive use of force.