'I Can't Breathe' rally blocks Kelley Square.

• Author: Allen, Samantha
• Position: Local

Byline: Samantha Allen

WORCESTER -- Approximately 40 protesters crowded Kelley Square at about noon Monday, standing together and blocking traffic while singing the "I Can't Breathe'' song as part of national protests in response to Ferguson, Missouri, and New York City deaths.

Julius R. Jones, 34, of Worcester, said he and his peers joined together for four-and-a-half minutes to block the area near an Interstate 290 ramp.

Massachusetts State Police tweeted about the event but said there were no delays. The number of minutes protesters stood in the road, clasping hands, was for the number of hours Michael Brown's body was in the street after a police-involved shooting in Ferguson in August.

The grand jury's decision last fall not to indict Officer Darren Wilson in that case sparked national outrage. The "I Can't Breathe'' movement grew a few weeks later as news circulated of Eric Garner's death in Staten Island after an officer pinned him down in a chokehold. Mr. Garner was recorded on video telling officers 11 times before he died that he couldn't breathe.

Actor Samuel L. Jackson recently took to social media to share a chant-like song for protesters to sing titled "I Can't Breathe.'' The lyrics include the line, "Calling out the violence of the racist police, we ain't gonna stop 'til people are free.'''

Some motorists during the protest in Kelley Square honked and seemed agitated as protesters held hands to form a human chain that spanned Route 122A outside the Hotel Vernon, a video of the event posted on YouTube shows. At one point, the protesters parted to allow an ambulance, with its emergency lights on, to pass through the intersection. Then they resumed their positions blocking traffic.

Mr. Jones said he and other organizers of the local "Black Lives Matter'' movement were prepared to move out of the way for emergency response vehicles coming through as they sang Mr. Jackson's song on Martin Luther King Jr. Day.

Worcester Police Sgt. Kerry Hazelhurst said there were no arrests...