Protest against police brutality blocks Ga freeway

Protesters head up Freedom Parkway in Atlanta, Ga., after briefly shutting down the Downtown Connector's Northbound lanes Wednesday evening Oct. 22, 2014, during a protest that organizers said was part of a national week of resistance to mass incarceration and police brutality as well as the shooting of Michael Brown in Ferguson, Mo.
Protesters head up Freedom Parkway in Atlanta, Ga., after briefly shutting down the Downtown Connector's Northbound lanes Wednesday evening Oct. 22, 2014, during a protest that organizers said was part of a national week of resistance to mass incarceration and police brutality as well as the shooting of Michael Brown in Ferguson, Mo.

ATLANTA (AP) - Demonstrators who say they were taking part in a week of resistance to police brutality temporarily blocked rush hour traffic on a busy freeway through downtown Atlanta.

Atlanta Police spokesman John Chafee says some 30 demonstrators in a group of up to 80 people blocked northbound lanes Wednesday evening on the heavily traveled "Downtown Connector" where two interstates converge. Chafee had no immediate word whether arrests were made.

News photographs showed protesters standing before scores of idling cars and trucks.

Mary Hooks, who identified herself as a grassroots protest organizer, says the event comes amid a national week of resistance to mass incarceration and police brutality. Hooks says the protest also was meant to show solidarity with those in Ferguson, Missouri, who have been protesting the shooting of Michael Brown.

Related video report:

Protestors block traffic on Downtown Connector

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