Officer Jenn Coats, a spokeswoman for the Berkeley Police Department, said several businesses were looted and damaged and two officers were injured when a splinter group broke off from a peaceful demonstration Saturday night in that California city. Protesters threw rocks, bricks, bottles, pipes and other objects at officers, damaging some squad cars.
By early Sunday, at least six people were arrested, Coats said.
Eric Garner, a black man who repeatedly gasped "I can't breathe!" while he was being arrested for selling loose, untaxed cigarettes. The arrest was captured on video.
The decision closely followed a Ferguson, Missouri, grand jury's choice not to indict a white officer in the fatal shooting of Michael Brown, an unarmed black 18-year-old. The scope of the demonstrations and the lack of violence were moving to Garner's mother and widow.
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Garner's widow, Esaw Garner, said she saw demonstrators from her apartment window and told her son, "Look at all the love that your father's getting."
Officers have said the outcry over the grand jury decision has left them feeling betrayed and demonized. "Police officers feel like they are being thrown under the bus," said Patrick Lynch, president of the police union.
Garner's family members joined the Rev. Al Sharpton on Saturday as he laid a wreath at the site on Staten Island where Garner died July 17 in a confrontation that started when police tried to arrest him.
Protests have also been held in Philadelphia, Chicago, Miami, Las Vegas and a number of other cities.
In Seattle, several hundred people marched downtown to police headquarters Saturday. Authorities said a group then split off from the main protest and tried to get onto a roadway.
Police say some protesters threw rocks at officers. Seven were arrested.