Tamir Rice supporters protest in Cincinnati day after no indictment

Carrying solemn faces and signs reading “Justice for Tamir Rice”, the crowd chanted for justice and criticized the conduct of police across the nation.

A protest over the grand jury’s decision not to indict two white Cleveland police officers in the fatal shooting of 12-year-old Tamir Rice has grown to about 100 people.

The Cleveland-based United Church of Christ, a Protestant Christian denomination, counts about 5,000 congregations and almost 1 million members nationwide.

Officers directed traffic around the demonstrations and no arrests were made during the peaceful protests of more than 100 people. The prosecutor conceded that Tamir might have been trying to show to the cops that the gun was real but the officer and his partner had no way of knowing that.

Mayor Frank Jackson says city officials have been meeting with neighborhood groups and clergy leaders in recent months. Investigators say he stole $1,600 from non-English speaking Hispanic motorists during traffic stops. Police radio personnel gave officers a description of the suspect’s clothing but did not convey that a 911 caller had said the suspect was probably a juvenile and the gun may not be real.

On Tuesday, Findlay Park in Over the Rhine was filled with protesters who believed the officers involved should be charged. Writing in the Washington Post, Ari Melber notes, “Grand juries are built to be a tool of prosecutors”.

A judge had recommended in June that there was probable cause to charge the officers, but independent reports ordered by McGinty’s office and released in October found that officer Timothy Loehmann was justified in shooting Rice. “This is not only a black issue this is an issue of humanity because its inhumane to shoot a child at 12 years old and not be held accountable”, Patrick said.

It was not until after the shooting, with the gun on the ground, police learned Tamir was playing with a replica firearm that shoots nonlethal plastic pellets, the lawyers said. The investigation began just before Christmas when the Independence Police Department heard of complaints through the “grape vine”, according to Police Chief Frank Edwards.

The incident and trial has stirred racial tensions, adding Cleveland to a list of United States cities – Ferguson, Baltimore, North Charleston, Chicago and New York City – where African-Americans have died at the hands of white police officers.

A grand jury on Monday declined to criminally indict the two officers in Tamir’s killing in November 2014.

Protesters are expected to gather outside Cleveland’s downtown justice center Tuesday afternoon.