About 20 demonstrators protest outside Pittsburgh police station after Tyre Nichols' death
PITTSBURGH (KDKA) - As protests against police brutality take place nationwide after Tyre Nichols' death, people are rallying in Pittsburgh as well.
A small group gathered on the North Side and then walked to Pittsburgh police headquarters on Monday morning.
About 20 people marched down Brighton Road and stopped in front of the Zone 1 station, demanding justice for Nichols and change.
The Black Liberation Autonomous Collective, Pittsburgh Feminists for Intersectionality and Black Anarchist Community Council say they're tired of Black people dying at the hands of police after Nichols was brutally beaten by Memphis police officers and died three days later.
These protestors say police reform is not the best solution. Instead, they want to defund the police and put money towards different resources like social workers who respond to traffic stops instead of officers.
"Our lives do not matter at all whatsoever, even when you're in a position of power and you are our skin color, we still do not matter," one demonstrator said.
The group says they'll continue to speak out until their message is heard and change is made.
Pittsburgh's acting police chief and Public Safety director released a statement later Monday, calling Nichols' arrest "a violent, inexcusable failure by the officers involved."
"We continue our commitment to ensure fair, community-based policing, based in transparency and dignity for those we serve," the statement said.
