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Chicago Churches Lead Protests Of Grand Jury Rulings In Garner, Brown Deaths

CHICAGO (CBS) -- It has been another day of protests across the Chicago area, as many churches held demonstrations expressing anger over recent deaths of several people in confrontations with police across the U.S.

WBBM's Mariam Sobh reports the protests were largely symbolic as a show of solidarity with those who have been out protesting for the last few days in the wake of the Eric Garner case in New York.

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Last week by a Staten Island grand jury rejected criminal charges against New York Police Officer Daniel Pantaleo for performing a fatal chokehold on 43-year-old Eric Garner during an arrest in July – even though a friend of Garner's recorded the arrest and an autopsy ruled it to be a homicide.

Protestors were led by their pastors in chants of "hands up don't shoot," "I can't breathe" and "Black lives matter," with similar slogans printed on posters.

"What we wanted to do was join other churches and faith communities in expressing our concern and outrage to the grand jury's failure to indict on the two recent cases," Dr. Gerald Dew of the Antioch Missionary Baptist Church in Englewood.

Among today's protests was demonstration by members of Saint Sabina church on 78th Place.

Aniceta Bandi Franklin came out to protest at St. Sabina with her two young children. "I wanted them to see that what's going on this country as a whole, is not right."

Lord Charles attended the protest at Saint Sabina and says he supports the cause but thinks more action needs to be taken toward fixing the situation.

"We can't just sit here and talk about cop justice...it's a waste of time," he said.

Intersections near area churches were blocked briefly, such as the one at Antioch Missionary Baptist Church near 63rd and Stewart. Overall, protests have been peaceful, organized and quick.

CBS 2's Derrick Blakley reports As many as 500 worshippers left the pews of nine West Side churches to shut down the intersection of Madison and Pulaski for an hour.

"We must disrupt our lives, our regular way of doing things, we must disrupt in order to make a statement," said Marshall Hatch Jr. "This is our statement today to the world."

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