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Protesters Nationwide Denounce Police Shootings

A look at worldwide protests following the police shootings of black men in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, and suburban St. Paul, Minnesota.
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Demonstrators march through downtown Atlanta to protest the shootings of two black men by police officers, Friday, July 8.Mike Stewart / AP

A look at worldwide protests and related events following the police shootings of black men in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, and suburban St. Paul, Minnesota, and the deadly sniper attack on police officers in Dallas.

ARKANSAS

About 300 people gathered in front of the state Capitol to seek solutions to racial strife, which Little Rock knows so well.

The pastor of the Mount Pleasant Baptist Church in North Little Rock said Friday everyone should be working to end the nation's unsettled time.

"The question remains, 'When will enough be enough?'" Earl Graham Jr. asked.

The crowd chanted the question back to him.

Little Rock was the scene of one of the nation's first desegregation battles in 1957, when President Dwight D. Eisenhower sent troops into the city to escort nine black children into Central High School.

ARIZONA

Police in Phoenix arrested three people after rocks were thrown at officers. No injuries were reported. As many as six civilians were injured, they said in a statement.

Earlier, the Arizona Republic newspaper reported police had deployed pepper spray as demonstrators approached Interstate 10. Freeway ramps were also closed in Phoenix after protesters marched near an interstate highway.

About 1,000 people chanted "black lives matter" and "hands up, don't shoot" as they marched in downtown Phoenix.

The few dozen officers initially escorting the group mostly wore plain clothes, not uniforms. Later, officers wore riot gear.

Minor scuffles broke out when a man wearing a "Make America Great Again" T-shirt and holding a Donald Trump campaign sign pushed his way into the protest. Police pulled the man aside to let the marchers continue.

Before the pepper spray was deployed, marcher John Goodie said he was glad to see multiple races represented.

"I can see black, white, brown," Goodie said. "It's the spirit of Phoenix."

PHOTO GALLERY: Two Days of Black Lives Matter Protests Spread Across US

CALIFORNIA

Rappers Snoop Dogg and The Game led a peaceful march to Los Angeles police headquarters, where they met with the mayor and police chief and urged improved relations between authorities and minority communities. Protests were planned in Oakland and San Francisco on Friday night.

In Sacramento, guards were closing the Capitol early in expectation of a protest Friday evening. The demonstration was organized by affiliates of the Black Lives Matter movement after the Dallas shooting.

COLORADO

Black Lives Matter supporters said they plan to continue a sit-in in Denver in response to the police shootings of black men in Minnesota and Louisiana through Tuesday for a total of 135 hours. That's an hour for each of the black people they say have been killed by police across the country this year.

The gathering, across from the City and County Building, began Thursday afternoon, several hours before police officers were killed in Dallas.

People have been dropping off food and water for those camped out on chairs and blankets in Civic Center Park.

GEORGIA

Thousands of people marched through downtown Atlanta to protest the recent police shootings of blacks.

Demonstrators flooded the streets and brought traffic to a standstill Friday after gathering at the National Center for Civil and Human Rights near Centennial Olympic Park. Protesters chanted "hands up, don't shoot."

Police Chief George Turner and Democratic Mayor Kasim Reed urged protesters to cooperate with law enforcement. The march appeared peaceful.

LOUISIANA

Hundreds of demonstrators in New Orleans gathered under a towering statue of Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee to demand an end to police brutality Friday night.

The crowd blocked traffic as participants chanted slogans, held signs and listened to speeches. One group of protesters sang "We Shall Overcome."

Earlier on Friday, more than two dozen protesters briefly lay down in front of the New Orleans Police Department headquarters in a symbolic "die-in."

In Baton Rouge, a protest over the shooting death of a black man by white officers has drawn hundreds of people across the street from police headquarters.

Rashad Rusk, 23, said the protesters intended to stay peaceful, but he vowed the protests won't stop until the two officers accused in Alton Sterling's death are charged with murder.

MASSACHUSETTS

Religious leaders gathered at an interfaith service in Boston to pray for an end to the racially tinged violence racking the nation.

Nancy Taylor, senior pastor of Old South Church, told the gathering she was weary of the mounting death toll.

"I'm here to say that I'm tired of praying," she said. "Tired of praying over dead bodies, the young dead. Sick and tired of praying over those killed by gun violence."

The Rev. Laura Everett, of the Massachusetts Council of Churches, called on people "to do the work of dismantling the systemic racism that pervades our American society."

NEBRASKA

About 300 people gathered in southwest Omaha to protest the recent fatal police shootings in Minnesota and Louisiana.

Protest organizer Rene Harper said the Dallas shooting kept some people away.

Related: How Peaceful Protest Became Deadly Ambush

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Participants briefly block a busy intersection during a demonstration in Omaha, Neb., July 8, to protest the recent shooting death by police of Alton Sterling and Philando Castile.Nati Harnik / AP

The group discussed how to conduct a peaceful protest before moving with signs to all four corners of an intersection.

Police were present. Several police cruisers were in the area, and police officers were stationed on the roofs of nearby businesses.

PENNSYLVANIA

Pittsburgh's police chief walked along with protesters at an activist march downtown on Friday and said it was peaceful.

Organizers billed the march as a protest against "growing inequality and a toxic atmosphere of hate." Police Chief Cameron McLay shook marchers' hands and chatted with them.

In Philadelphia, about 150 people marched for the third consecutive night to protest the deadly shootings of black men by police in Louisiana and Minnesota.

The demonstrators, ranging from young children to seniors who recalled marches by civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr., held signs and chanted.

WASHINGTON, D.C.

A few dozen people rallied peacefully outside the U.S. Department of Justice headquarters, holding candles and quietly singing "We Shall Not Be Moved" amid a heavy local and federal police presence.

Image: A demonstrator with Black Lives Matter holds up a sign during a protest in front of the White House in Washington.
A demonstrator with Black Lives Matter holds up a sign during a protest in front of the White House in Washington, U.S., July 8.Joshua Roberts / Reuters

Howard University student George Wyche, who's from Houston, said he was worn out emotionally from the racially tinged violence of this week. He said he believes there are no easy answers to the tensions plaguing the country.

"It's a time for belief in the greater good of humanity," Wyche said.

NEW YORK

About 300 people rallied in New York.

The protesters started in Manhattan's Union Square Friday night, chanting "hands up, don't shoot" and "no justice, no peace."

The protesters then separated — one group marched across a Bridge while another marched through Grand Central Terminal, chanting "black lives matter."

Image: Protesters, marching against the killing of Alton Sterling and Philando Castile, face police in Manhattan, New York
Protesters, marching against the killing of Alton Sterling and Philando Castile, hold placards towards members of the New York Police Department on motorbikes, July 7.Bria Webb / Reuters

The protesters had signs that said "Black Lives Matter," similar to those who marched the night before, but some signs read: "We mourn for Dallas too."

UNITED KINGDOM

Hundreds of people took part in a Black Lives Matter protest in London on Friday.

Large crowds of people marched through busy streets in the central part of the city as drivers honked their horns and passers-by pumped their fists.