US: Police clash with protesters over recent killings

Protesters block traffic in Times Square during a march in response to the grand jury's decision in the Eric Garner case in New York. Photo / AP

Police have clashed with protesters in California on the fourth night of demonstrations across the United States against recent killings of African American suspects by white police.

Protesters in Berkeley, California, on Sunday threw bricks, rocks and pipes at police, who fired tear gas and smoke canisters to quell the crowds.

Several officers were injured, and buildings and cars were vandalised or looted, police spokeswoman Jennifer Coats said.

"Several splinter groups broke off and began hurling bricks, pipe, smoke grenades, and other missiles at officers," Coats told AFP.

"One officer was struck with a large sandbag and treated at a local hospital for a dislocated shoulder."

The angry demonstration took place hours after mourners gathered at the New York funeral of an unarmed black man shot dead by police on November 20.

Akai Gurley, 28, was killed when a police officer opened fire in a dimly lit staircase at a Brooklyn apartment building where he was walking with his girlfriend.

Activist Kevin Powell, who delivered the eulogy, issued a passionate plea for change.

"This is modern-day lynchings, over and over again. Akai Gurley was simply the latest victim of this," he said, calling for homicide charges to be brought.

Gurley's funeral comes amid nationwide protests across the United States against a spate of killings of black suspects by white police officers, including 18-year-old Michael Brown who was shot dead in Ferguson, Missouri, on August 9 and Eric Garner, a father of six who was killed in a chokehold by police in New York in July.

Last month, a 12-year-old African American boy brandishing a replica gun was shot dead in Cleveland, Ohio, by police only seconds after they arrived at the scene.

Protests continued Saturday with civil rights activist Al Sharpton's National Action Network holding an event in Harlem attended by actor Spike Lee.

Other high-profile figures made statements, including Chicago Bulls star Derrick Rose, who warmed up for an NBA game Saturday in a T-shirt bearing the words "I Can't Breathe" - the final words gasped by 43-year-old Garner as police wrestled him to the ground for allegedly selling untaxed cigarettes.

-AAP