Protests grow across the United States after mourners held a funeral for Akai Gurley, a 28-year-old black man gunned down by a white police officer in New York’s Brooklyn suburb.

The shooting of the father of a two-year old girl is the latest in a series of fatal police encounters fueling outrage over what protesters say is a pattern of excessive force by authorities against black people.

The killings and decisions by grand juries not to charge officers involved in them have rekindled a national debate about race relations in the US.

Brooklyn’s district attorney said on Friday (December 1) that a grand jury would consider charges against Peter Liang, the officer who shot Gurley. Police say Liang may have accidentally discharged his gun.

The demonstrations began on Wednesday (December 3) after a New York grand jury decided not to charge a white police officer over the killing in July of Eric Garner, a 43-year-old black father of six.

That decision was announced nine days after a Missouri grand jury chose not to charge a white police officer for gunning down an unarmed black teenager in Ferguson, a St. Louis suburb.

Protests across the US were largely peaceful, however violence erupted in Berkeley,California when some demonstrators hurled objects at police who fired tear gas and rubber bullets.