FORT WADSWORTH — A Verrazano-Narrows Bridge march planned for this weekend to protest a spate of police-involved deaths was canceled late Thursday afternoon — the second to be scrapped this month.
The NYC-based advocacy group Stop Mass Incarceration Network had planned to lead a march from the Brooklyn side of the bridge to Staten Island on Saturday to protest the deaths of Eric Garner in Staten Island and Michael Brown in Ferguson, Mo., the group said in a release.
The group canceled the protest after organizers decided to head to Feguson instead, a spokesman said in an email.
"Due to the developing and escalating situation in Ferguson, Mo., [organizers] Carl Dix and Travis Morales have decided to travel [there] to unite with the brave people and protesters there," spokesman Steve Yip said in an email.
The group had originally planned to walk along the Gowanus Expressway to the bridge. It was unclear how organizers planned to traverse the bridge, which does not have a pedestrian walkway and bans pedestrian or bike access.
Officials from the MTA, NYPD and City Hall could not say if the group applied for or received a permit for the protest.
Rev. Al Sharpton had also planned to close off the bridge on Aug. 23 to protest the death of Garner, who was killed after being put in an apparent chokehold by an NYPD officer while being arrested for selling illegal cigarettes, Newsday reported.
Sharpton canceled his plans after Mayor Bill de Blasio, Governor Andrew Cuomo and local politicians said it would close down the only link for Staten Island drivers to the rest of the city, according to Newsday.
Sharpton instead promised to caravan protestors from all over the city to the spot where Garner died.
Garner died on July 16 across from Tompkinsville Park. The medical examiner later released an autopsy that ruled Garner's death a homicide due to compression of his neck. The autopsy also found chronic asthma, obesity and hypertensive cardiovascular disease contributed to his death.
Brown, 18, was shot several times by police in Ferguson, Mo., last weekend. His death has sparked days of clashes between police and protestors, and President Barack Obama called for a thorough investigation into the incident on Thursday, the Washington Post reported.
