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Hundreds march in Austin for Black Lives Matter

By Dan Sullivan

Black Lives Matter protest in Austin, TX

Austin, TX – Over 300 students and activists marched at a Black Lives Matter demonstration in Austin on Jan. 30. The large crowd of both students and community activists rallied at the University of Austin campus to hear speeches and then marched to the Texas state capitol building.

Protesters chanted, “Hands up, don't shoot!” and “Indict, convict, send those killer cops to jail, the whole damn system is guilty as hell!”

There was a very fiery speech by Olinka Green, a leader arrested last year for handing out flyers against police brutality in downtown Dallas. She asked all the African American women to come up on stage, and then called for unity against racism and police brutality.

“Too many of us are being killed. It is time to resist. We have to win this fight!” Green said. She received thunderous applause for her stirring speech and the crowd cheered her on.

After the speeches, the march began and as they passed a group of police on the way to the capitol building, the students chanted, “Hey, hey, ho, ho, killer cops have got to go!”

“Oppression breeds resistance, and with every new case of police brutality, resistance is increasing,” said Fabian Van Onzin with Students for a Democratic Society. “Our SDS group at the University of Houston held a good sized rally for Sandra Bland yesterday, so today we came to the state capitol in solidarity. The movement in Texas to oppose police crimes and change the system of injustice is growing. SDS is here to support and be part of the freedom struggle of African Americans.”

#AustinTX #AfricanAmerican #PoliceBrutality #Antiracism #BlackLivesMatter