Protesters against police violence march to ELPD

EAST LANSING – More than 100 marchers converged on the East Lansing Police Department from the Michigan State University campus Wednesday afternoon in a protest tied to the unrest in Ferguson, Mo.

After rallying outside, the group of students and other community members filed into City Hall and presented a list of demands, including a call for the city to denounce police actions in Ferguson, where Michael Brown was shot and killed in early August.

"We're getting together to show solidarity for those in Ferguson, those in Palestine, Hong Kong ... just to show that we are fed up with police brutality, fed up with systemic racism, fed up with not having a say in our community," said Crystal Gause, who helped organize the protest.

Organizers said a coalition of groups, including the Black Student Alliance, North American Indigenous Student Organization and MSU Students United, participated in the protest. They said it was part of a national day of action tied to the Ferguson unrest.

The group is demanding that all officers wear body cameras and that police "issue a statement saying they don't condone what's happening in Ferguson," Gause said. Protesters also want the department to get rid of its surplus military equipment and allow more community oversight of police operations.

East Lansing Police Chief Juli Liebler spoke with marchers in the lobby and asked for a week to respond to their demands.

Organizers, who began the march at Beaumont Tower, said they are prepared to take other actions if they don't get a response.

"We do understand that this is not the end of the road," said Rashad Timmons, an MSU journalism student. "If subsequent action has to be taken, then we will continue to plan and be ready for that as well."

Timmons said the turnout was larger than he and other organizers expected.

"Just to have so many diverse people (unite) for one collective goal, one collective cause, was absolutely amazing," he said.