Dec. 8, 2014: Protesters block an Amtrak passenger train in Berkeley, Calif. (AP)
Hundreds of protesters converged on the Barclays Center in New York Monday getting in the wy of ticketholders who came to see a basketball game and possibly get a glimpse of Price William and the Duchess of Cambridge.
Protesters staged a die-in outside the arena as well as spilling into the Atlantic Terminal Mall as demonstrators continue to protest the decision by a Staten Island grand jury not to indict a white police officer in the chokehold death of an unarmed black male, Eric Garner.
Protesters caused no problem to the Royal visitors, while protesters continued to chant as the game was over and the crowds started to file out.
In Berkeley, Calif., protesters marches through the streets for the third night in a row, blocking major roadways and even causing an Amtrak train and BART service to stall.
A large group of people began peacefully marching earlier Monday through downtown Berkeley. The first stop for demonstrators shouting, "Who do you protect? Peaceful protest" was the Berkeley Police Department. A line of officers in riot gear blocked them from getting close to the building. The group then headed to a Bay Area Rapid Transit train station and sat outside, prompting authorities to briefly shut down the station.
But as the night went on, the protesters divided into smaller groups that disrupted traffic and train passengers.
The California Highway Patrol said in a tweet that some in the crowd tore down fencing to enter the freeway.
he crowds that came out to protest in Berkeley numbered only a few hundred, but some are not college students or residents so much as full-time demonstrators who protest anything — war, prison conditions and economic inequality — and sometimes use demonstrations as a pretext for violence and vandalism, just as they did during the Occupy Wall Street movement.
Berkeley Mayor Tom Bates said a tiny fraction of protesters are obscuring the wider message calling for reform of policing policies nationwide.
"The people in the Bay Area are sensitive to worldwide issues," Bates said. "Unfortunately, there is a small element that uses violence at times to make their point."
Bates called the violent elements of the demonstration "cowards and thugs who need to take off their masks."
It was not immediately known if protesters were arrested Monday night. Five people were arrested Sunday, police said.
Click for more from the Wall Street Journal.
The Associated Press contributed to this report
The hottest stories ripped from the headlines, from crime to courts, legal and scandal.
