Lafayette Square Park was tightly roped off when a couple hundred protestors gathered there last Thursday night to express their outrage with out-of-control police violence in Ferguson, Mo., New Orleans, and beyond.

Amid cries of “Justice for Mike Brown!” head speaker, Dillard University student Chanelle Batiste stood at the base of the park’s statue and held forth on police brutality cases, including the recent New Orleans incident where a routine traffic stop ended in an officer shooting a civilian in the head. The offending officer and the police department then failed to report the violence, and in fact, seemed to be covering it up—until the media reported it.

The crowd remained silent for a full 15 minutes while Chanelle Batiste discussed at length how the crowd would proceed with the officially scheduled moment of silence. With heat in the 90s and the sun still bright at 6:30 p.m., candles were passed out and lit among the crowd, who were asked to then raise their hands in the prone “Hands up! Don’t shoot!” position that has become the symbolic meme of the struggle in Ferguson. CLICK HERE to read the rest of the article at Louisiana Weekly.

Or check out this video of the protest march by David Bear: