Protests after no charges framed against NYC police for death of black man

A week earlier, a similar decision by a grand jury in Ferguson sparked unrest in US cities

Demonstrations broke out in New York City after a grand jury declined to charge a white police officer in the choking death of a black man, days after a similar decision sparked unrest in US cities.

Soon after the decision by the grand jury, hundreds of protesters massed in New York City's iconic Times Square chanting "No justice, no peace," the signature call of demonstrators already angered by a jury decision last week not to indict a white policeman in the fatal shooting of unarmed black teenager Michael Brown in Missouri.

Both cases, coupled with the death of a 12-year-old boy who was gunned down by police officers in Ohio while handling a toy pistol, have reignited a longstanding debate in the United States about relations between law enforcement and African-Americans.

Following yesterday's grand jury decision, Attorney General Eric Holder said the US Justice Department will launch a federal civil rights investigation into the case of Eric Garner, who died after being placed in a chokehold by New York police Officer Daniel Pantaleo while being arrested on suspicion of selling untaxed cigarettes on Staten Island, a NYC borough.

That did not deter protesters in Times Square, who waved signs with messages such as 'Black lives matter', and 'Respect human lives'. Several people were arrested in protests near the Rockefeller Center by police who were out in force.

There was another protest in the great hall of Grand Central Station, where about 50 protesters lay, pretending to be dead, and on Staten Island.

There were small peaceful protests in Washington, DC.