More than 1,000 protesters rallied outside of CNN’s Atlanta headquarters on Monday to voice their frustration with the news network’s coverage of the Ferguson, Mo., protests and the killing of Michael Brown by police officer Darren Wilson, and protest police brutality generally.
Today! MT @RLGethers: Atlanta! Come out and march in the #ITSBIGGERTHANYOU peaceful protest. 6:30pm at the CNN Center pic.twitter.com/lkrro9s6uW
— run dasein (@rundaseinrun) August 18, 2014
https://twitter.com/LeSeanThomas/statuses/501575469913755649
https://twitter.com/ausgates/statuses/501596361536450560
Protesters said they took issue with CNN’s “smearing” of Brown, including the network’s airing of footage released by the police of a robbery Brown was allegedly involved in on the day he was killed.
CNN also aired an interview from a friend of Wilson, sharing the officer’s account of the events that led to Brown’s death, which contradicts the accounts of other eyewitnesses. According to the friend, Wilson says Brown tried to grab his gun from him and later “bum-rushed” the officer before he was shot and killed.
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reports that protesters chanted “No justice, no peace” and “I am Mike Brown” throughout the event.