Several thousand protesters dispersed across the city to shut down access to the Manhattan and Williamsburg Bridges, the entrances to the Holland and Lincoln Tunnels, and portions of the FDR and West Side Highways, venting their rage at a grand jury's decision not to indict Missouri police officer Darren Wilson in the slaying of 18-year-old Michael Brown. "I had hope, I still had hope in our county and in our legal system," 18-year-old Barnard student Stephanie Rothermel said as she marched down Flatbush Avenue. "But I guess that's a stupid thing to have."

An NYPD spokesman said 10 people were arrested during the protests. All ten were charged with disorderly conduct, and four of the arrestees were also charged with resisting arrest.

The main demonstrations, larger than the previous night's, began in Union Square around 7 p.m., as several groups of up to 1,000 or so protesters apiece split into different quadrants of Manhattan. One group marched into the East Village, through the Lillian Wald Houses, and onto the FDR, where both lanes were blocked for roughly 30 minutes. Police helicopters were ubiquitous, but the NYPD maintained their distance, following Commissioner Bratton's directive to provide "breathing room" to those who wanted to express their frustration about the Brown decision.

Rod J., an unemployed Queens resident, wasn't impressed by the NYPD's newfound tolerance for public assembly under de Blasio.

"Modern policing was developed from slave patrols. If they weren't racist, they wouldn't be police."

Rod said he attended last year's march for Trayvon Martin, and found it "inspiring and powerful," but said he is "more pessimistic" about demonstrations now.

"The system has a place to march and let off steam, and go back to living their lives, or doing kinds of organizing that doesn't work. My hope is that people here can meet each other to do real work. Ultimately, building the kind of power to where cops are afraid to fuck with people," he said.

After taking the FDR, the protest swung back to the Williamsburg Bridge, where hundreds of people pressed against a hastily arranged phalanx of NYPD officers who wielded barricades and punched at the bolder demonstrators trying to break through. The crowd was ordered to disperse, and did so minutes later. "We'll fight the pigs on another battle," a woman holding a bullhorn shouted.

Police & protesters clashing at Wburg bridge. Cops shoving barricades, punching at protesters, who scream "fuck you" pic.twitter.com/WaMcs3xVjz — Christopher Robbins (@ChristRobbins) November 26, 2014

Despite the group's clear intention to obstruct bridge traffic, the Manhattan Bridge was wide open when the protesters streamed up its roadway minutes later. Gridlock ensued for at least 40 minutes.

"We can deal with it, it's a minor inconvenience," said Tammy, who was sitting shotgun to her husband Rod. The two Brooklynites were heading out of town to see family for the holiday. "It's for a good cause," Mike added. "We can sit for this."

Remington Montouth rhythmically blared the horn of his late-'90s Ford Explorer as he waited for the crowd to pass.

"Under the circumstances, we should all stand up," Montouth said. "You tell me that a policeman killing someone isn't as serious as having a pinch of marijuana in their pockets? No. That's ridiculous."

Driver high-fiving every marcher who passes him pic.twitter.com/d40ifxBTDJ — Christopher Robbins (@ChristRobbins) November 26, 2014

Over on the West Side Highway, hundreds of protesters climbed the barrier and marched on the expressway. "I think I just smelled my first whiff of fall foliage back there," said Kevin, 26-years-old and a self-described "anarcho-primitivist," as he threaded through a line of stopped cars. He waved to some trees on the right. "Obviously right now we're just kind of on a nice nature walk."

Protesters have now taken both sides of the Westside Highway pic.twitter.com/qFbmhtz7Ic — Karmic Release Ltd (@KarmicRelease) November 26, 2014

Dropped in from elsewhere, it'd be easy to confuse the peaceful scene as a casual stroll through the park, though the distinct strangeness of the setting would eventually seep in: The long line of traffic forced to a halt as protesters wove through, the phalanx of officers eyeing the procession from across the barrier. And most of all, the simmering anger—controlled, but never absent— that was, after all, the only reason that thousands of people were plodding slowly down the middle of the highway in the first place.

By the time this group shut down the highway, they'd done the same thing with the FDR hours earlier, and made several passes through various points in Manhattan: Union Square, Times Square, the U.N. building. Now, the din of the city had died away, and the highway stretched ahead like a giant woodland path.

A skateboarder on the west side highway in NYC. All traffic is stopped. https://t.co/dAPm0XJDl3 — Keith Boykin (@keithboykin) November 26, 2014

Kevin, who lives on the Lower East Side, was leaving a doctor's appointment when he saw the crowd assembling at Union Square and decided to join in. It's not dissimilar to how many joined the march last night—while many planned their evenings around the protest, others were sucked in by accretion. "I'm usually not really an activist, but I saw a big crowd," said one marcher, who asked to be kept anonymous. "There's power in numbers."

Others marched in protest of not only the country's broken justice system, but the country itself. "I don't agree with a lot of American customs and traditions," said 18-year-old Akeem Bumpass, who was visiting the city from Georgia. "The GMOs in the food, the fluoride in the water—it's like an attack."

Jasmine Lunncraft, 23, said it was important for her to be a presence in the march, despite her hectic schedule of working two jobs while going to school. "I feel like so many people are talking and not doing anything," she said. "This shows that if we come together as a community, we can do something. Even if this doesn't change the decision not to indict [Wilson], they need to know that we know what's going on."

The crowd on the highway was racially diverse but almost uniformly young, though the journey had clearly taken its toll on some as the crowd reached Harlem. "If someone would have told me I was going to walk all this way since 7, I would have told them they were lying," one woman told her friend as the crowd wove down 125th Street and Broadway just after midnight.

Karline and Sarika, ages 20 and 18, explained that the duress of the journey was part of the point. "We've been walking for five hours now, and we're all supporting each other," said Sarika, who declined to give her last name. "Seeing all these people out here with like-minds is very uplifting."

"This is the civil rights issue of our time," said Karline. "The difference is now, we have the laws, but they're not being respected. The grand jury decision was the last straw for a lot of people."

The march over the Manhattan Bridge, meanwhile, entered Brooklyn and proceeded down Flatbush Avenue, until eventually finding its way to Fulton Street, in Crown Heights. Branson Belchie had just finished at a restaurant and nudged his friend before running out into the street and joining the crowd.

"It's time to march. I gotta be here. We need this," he said. "We've been getting killed unjustly, we're going to jail at a higher rate than everybody else. It's all related."

Effigy of a police officer at base of Manhattan Bridge pic.twitter.com/rGgNbYhgNw — Christopher Robbins (@ChristRobbins) November 26, 2014

Shortly before 11 p.m., the 500 or so protesters who remained stopped at Nostrand and Fulton to listen to several speeches. Before police could arrest them, they dispersed.

"I think that people are realizing that capitalism is more than an economic system, but a social and political one, which keeps people down by setting up a hierarchy with race, and class, and sex," said Jamie, a Crown Heights resident. "We did not indict a racist, but we are failing to indict the system, which is creating and perpetuating racism, and all the other isms."

She added, "We need to figure out what we can do to the political and economic systems, but until we can do more than just walking, there will never be any change."

Reporting by Lauren Evans and Christopher Robbins.

Michael Brown March, NYC from Daniel Terna on Vimeo.