Protesters block traffic on Downtown Connector | News

ATLANTA (WXIA) -- Members of the group Black Lives Matter, protesting police brutality across the nation, but focusing on the situation in Ferguson, Mo., following the August death of unarmed black teen Michael Brown, led a protest early Wednesday evening in Atlanta, marching and blocking traffic along the Downtown Connector (I-75/85) and Freedom Parkway for a brief time.

Various factions of the group have led protest marches in a number of cities across the nation, and have raised protest banners at events that have included Sunday's St. Louis Rams football game.

Southerners On New Ground field organizer Mary Hooks says she and other grassroots organizers helped plan the protest as part of a national week of resistance to mass incarceration and police brutality. The demonstration also used the Twitter hashtag #blacklivesmatter.

Hooks says the protest was also meant to show solidarity with demonstrators in Ferguson, Missouri who have been protesting the shooting of Michael Brown.

Traffic was blocked for about 15 minutes toward the end of the evening rush hour.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.