Sharpton Released After NYC Protest Arrest

The Rev. Al Sharpton, the fiancee of a police-shooting victim, and two shooting survivors have been released after protest-related disorderly conduct arrests in New York.

They were among scores arrested Wednesday as demonstrators blocked traffic at the height of the evening rush hour to protest the acquittal of three detectives in the 50-bullet shooting of an unarmed black man on his wedding day.

Police estimated that about 190 people were arrested.

The demonstrators prayed, sang and chanted slogans including "no justice, no peace" as they converged on six heavily-used bridges and tunnels that carry traffic to and from Manhattan. The protests were part of a coordinated campaign to urge federal authorities to investigate the shooting of Sean Bell in November 2006.

Sharpton had called for acts of civil disobedience across the city. Several other demonstrators were also arrested as they stopped traffic at bridges and tunnels.

As police kept their distance, organizers gave protesters instructions on how to behave when arrested.

The three officers were acquitted of state charges last month.

Sharpton is seeking a federal civil rights investigation into Bell's shooting. Bell was killed in a hail of 50 police bullets outside a Queens strip club that was under investigation for prostitution. The officers charged in the slaying were acquitted in state court April 25.

Demonstrators gathered at six locations, including outside police headquarters and the entrances to the Brooklyn and Triborough bridges and the Holland Tunnel.

Bell's fiancee said after the verdict was read April 25 that "the justice system let me down."

"April 25, 2008: They killed Sean all over again," Nicole Paultre Bell told a crowd at the headquarters of Sharpton's National Action Network. "That's what it felt like to us."

The verdict elicited gasps as well as tears of joy and sorrow. Detective Michael Oliver, who fired 31 of the shots, wept at the defense table, while Bell's mother cried in the packed courtroom. Shouts of "Murderers! Murderers!" and "KKK!" rang out outside the courthouse. Sharpton lambasted the judge who acquitted the detectives.

"If people are on the public payroll, doing their public duty, they should be required to face a public jury," Sharpton said. The officers had opted to have the judge instead of a jury decide the case.

Sharpton later promised to "shut the city down" with organized civil disobedience. "Shut it down! Shut it down!" supporters chanted.