They decried the status quo, saying that too many Americans accept police shootings that killed two African-American men in Louisiana and Minnesota last week, and others in recent years.

For nearly four hours, protesters marched through parts of Roxbury and the South End, gathering momentum with each step, and tying up traffic on major streets.

More than 1,000 people peacefully marched through Boston on Wednesday night, chanting, singing, and waving signs as they called for an end to racially charged police brutality across the country.

“I am bothered by the senseless killings,” said Tahia Sykes, an organizer for Mass Action Against Police Brutality, a Roxbury group that organized the rally.


“But I am [also] bothered by the complacency,” she said.

Sykes led protesters in a chant: “Indict! Convict! Send those killer cops to jail! The whole damn system is guilty as hell!”

The march came less than a week after five Dallas police officers were gunned down during a Black Lives Matter protest.

The protest began shortly before 7 p.m. outside Boston police headquarters on Tremont Street. They marched down Tremont Street, to Massachusetts and Shawmut avenues, and through Dudley Square, before ending at Mass Action’s headquarters near Blue Hill Avenue.

Dozens of Boston police officers followed on bicycles and foot. Police also observed from nearby locations, including the roof of police headquarters. But there was no apparent interaction between police and the marchers.

Officer James Kenneally, a spokesman for Boston police, said the department had no comment on the protest. There were no reports of arrests.

The march was held on the first anniversary of the death of Sandra Bland, a 28-year-old black woman who was found hanged in a county jail cell in Texas on July 13, 2015.

Bland had been pulled over for a minor traffic stop three days before, and was arrested after a police officer alleged she had assaulted him. Her death, which was classified as a suicide, sparked protests alleging racial bias by police.


Organizers carried a large picture of Bland, and a recording of her voice was played at the end, as part of final plea for racial equality.

Brock Satter, another organizer, blamed the judicial and political systems and the media for playing “a role in justifying the genocide that’s going on.”

Some marchers held signs reading “Stop police terror.”

Mass Action Against Police Brutality staged Wednesday’s rally. Lane Turner/Globe Staff

Shirley Pimentel held a sign reading, “I shouldn’t have to fear for my brother’s life.”

Pimentel, 25, said she twice witnessed her younger brother, Randy, being pulled over by Boston police and pinned to the ground.

“We’re all the same,” she said. “There’s no reason why we should be treated differently than a white male.”

Others held signs listing the names of African-Americans who have died in police custody since 2014: 18-year-old Michael Brown in Ferguson, Mo.; 12-year-old Tamir Rice in Cleveland; and 25-year-old Freddie Gray in Baltimore in 2015.

“I watch the news and social media. . . . I realize I could have just as easily been one of those guys,” said Yjaden Wood, 22, a student at Northeastern University.

Wood said he attended the protest out of “anxiety and fear,” for his future.