It’s past midnight in New York and Washington, DC, and evening in Los Angeles, but big crowds are still out on the streets in both cities, and spirits are high.
In New York, protesters are marching through Greenwich Village in downtown Manhattan. Curfew was at 8 p.m., but there isn’t a heavy police presence tonight, and police haven’t been enforcing the curfew with arrests like earlier this week.
The protesters have been marching for hours now. Some of the organizers and leaders keep morale up with call-and-response chants like “Do not engage, we are united, we are peaceful” and “United, the people will never be defeated.”
“The system is not going to win,” one protester told CNN. “The people have a voice now and they’re listening to us. They’re listening to us because we are united. They’re listening to us because stuff like this happens in the middle of Manhattan, where thousands upon thousands of people don’t have to let injustice happen anymore.”
In Washington, DC, crowds are massive tonight — perhaps the biggest since they began, said CNN Correspondent Alex Marquadt on the scene.
Curfew was lifted earlier this week, and protests remain peaceful. People are gathering on the edge of Lafayette Park, close to the White House, taking photos with a new street sign that reads “Black Lives Matter Plaza.”
There are some members of law enforcement and National Guard troops in sight — but nowhere near the aggressive numbers seen earlier in the week, Marquadt said.
In Los Angeles, curfew has also been lifted and protests remain peaceful, with the mood light tonight.
The marchers, numbering at least 1,000, is diverse, said CNN reporter Lucy Kafanov on the scene. She described seeing “members of the Asian community, Latino community, white people, black people, LGBTQ, everyone.”