Protest group holds 'shutdown' march during rush hour

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Several dozen protesters hindered the morning commute for some on Thursday as they marched in the streets of Washington.

Television news footage showed about 40 demonstrators waving signs that read, "Stop racist police terror" and "Stand with the people of Ferguson."

The group snarled some traffic during the morning commute in Chinatown near the Verizon Center in northwest Washington but appeared to be moving steadily through the streets.

The protesters are demonstrating against the deaths of unarmed black men by white police officers in Ferguson, Missouri and New York City. They held the protest Thursday in recognition of Martin Luther King Jr.'s birthday.

The group had said ahead of the protest that "there can be no business as usual until this epidemic of police terror, abuse and profiling is ended."

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