New York Protesters Arrested Supporting Ferguson Demonstrators After Mike Brown Shooting

Ferguson Missouri Mike Brown killing — Demonstrators protest the police killing of Mike Brown while standing outside the St. Louis County Circuit Clerk building in Clayton, Missouri, on Tuesday, Aug. 12, 2014. Reuters

Five New York City protesters were arrested on Thursday and charged with resisting arrest, inciting riot, criminal trespass, and disorderly conduct, according to the NYPD. Their names haven't been released as of yet.

New Yorkers gathered across the city on Thursday night for a National Moment of Silence in honor of Mike Brown. Major areas such as Union Square and Times Square, in addition to neighborhoods in Harlem, Bedford-Stuyvesant, Brooklyn, and Jamaica, Queens, were packed with demonstrators for a moment of silence as they showed support for the many protesters in St. Louis, Missouri.

Times Square New York #MikeBrown #ferguson protest pic.twitter.com/yrKFyYk7nD
— iON BAD EGGS (@iONBADEGGS) August 15, 2014

“I’m a parent and grandparent -- I could not imagine if that was my child or grandchild,” Toni Arenstein, 64, of Chelsea told the Daily News in Union Square, of Brown.

Numerous demonstrators in Missouri have also been arrested by police since last week, after they began protesting against the police killing of an unarmed black teenager. Brown, 18, was killed by a police officer on Saturday after he put his hands up during an alleged altercation with cops on a street in Ferguson, according to witnesses. Police said they had cause to shoot Brown. Authorities had refused to release the officer’s name, but at a news conference Friday the police chief identified him as Darren Wilson, a six-year veteran who had no disciplinary actions taken against him. No further details about the officer were released.

The nearly all-white police force has been criticized for the heavy-handed tactics used particularly in the aftermath of Brown's death in Ferguson, a town of 21,000 that is nearly 70 percent black. The shooting has drawn comparisons to other recent police shootings of unarmed black men, including Trayvon Martin, who was shot and killed by volunteer community watchman George Zimmerman in Florida in 2012.

The rally in New York comes a day after police broke up a protest in Ferguson using tear gas and stun grenades. Chicago, Los Angeles, and Washington, D.C. also held rallies in support of Ferguson demonstrators.