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The following photo story was made during a demonstration against police violence in New Haven, CT on Sunday, April 18, 2021. It was organized by a variety of left-wing political groups in southern Connecticut including local branches of the Democratic Socialists of America (DSA) and the Party for Socialism and Liberation. The demands from organizers, which the crowd chanted along with, included justice for Adam Toledo, a 13-year-old killed by a police officer in Chicago in March 2021, justice for Mubarak Soulemane, a teenager killed by West Haven, CT, police in January 2020, and the defunding of the Yale Police Department, with the saved money going towards various causes in the surrounding community.
A New Haven police officer blocks the intersection between Elm Street and Church Street so protestors can pass during a demonstration against police brutality on Sunday, April 18, 2021. The officer has his arms folded and is looking away from the protestors as they march.
Protestors wave a variety of signs demanding justice for victims of police violence while marching down Church Street in New Haven, CT on Sunday, April 18, 2021. These particular signs were provided by the Party for Socialism and Liberation, whose New Haven branch was also partially responsible for organizing the demonstration.
Hamden city council member Justin Farmer pauses during his speech to a crowd of protestors in front of the Yale Police Department in New Haven, CT, on Sunday, April 18, 2021. Farmer told everyone in attendance about his life and his experiences with coming from an immigrant family, experiencing gentrification, and police violence.
A protestor stands amongst a crowd in the middle of Church Street in New Haven, CT, holding up a sign demanding "Justice for Adam Toledo" on Sunday, April 18, 2021. Toledo was a 13-year-old boy who was shot to death by a police officer in Chicago in late March, sparking widespread outcry about the officer's potentially unjustified use of force.
Justin Farmer, a Hamden city council member and co-chair of the New Haven branch of the Democratic Socialists of America, leads the crowd gathered in front of the Yale Police Department in New Haven, CT, in kneeling for 8 minutes and 46 seconds on Sunday, April 18, 2021. The symbolic time was chosen because it is the same amount of time that Derek Chauvin kneeled on George Floyd's neck in Minneapolis last year.