Local Protest Rallies Remain Peaceful In Dade And Broward

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MIAMI (CBSMiami) – Several rallies for the Black Lives Matter movement peacefully took place across South Florida Saturday.

This came after a violent, deadly week across the country.

At a rally in Wynwood Saturday nighta large crowd chanted everything from "hands up!  Guns down!" to "What do we want?  Justice.  When do we want it?  Now." and "No justice, no peace.  No racist police!"

The march started in Wynwood and ended on Biscayne Boulevard in front of Bayside.  It tied up traffic on the busy thoroughfare for about 20 minutes.

"We thank you Lord for your many blessings Lord," Broward rapper Ace Hood said in a prayer circle.  "We thank you for allowing all of us to come together.  We ask that this start in peace.  We ask, Lord Father, that this end in peace."

"It's simply about love, about peace, about equality," said Jake Munoz.  "We want both sides, black and white to be seen the same.  No matter if you shoplift, if you're black, if you're white, you get treated the same way.  You're approached the same way."

Up in Broward a few hundred people marched the streets of downtown Fort Lauderdale Saturday afternoon, making their way to the Broward County jail.

"I just wanted to participate and show my support after everything that's happened recently.  It's my first time being out here," marcher John Smith told CBS4's Donna Rapado.  "It's been nice and peaceful and everyone's been decent."

"Any death is a tragedy.  And any unjustified death is a tragedy," said marcher Kitty Gil.    "That's what we want to stop.  I don't care if it's police or it's black men, if it's unjustified it should stop.  It needs to stop."

"All lives matter, as you can see," added Karen King while carrying a poster that read the same.  "It's just not one, it's not black, it's not Mexican, Corrections, everybody lives matter."

Two black men died at the hands of white police officers this week. Police in Baton Rouge, Louisiana shot and killed Alton Sterling outside a convenience store.

And just outside St. Paul, Minnesota in Falcon Heights an officer shot and killed Philando Castile during a traffic stop.  Both shootings were recorded on cell phones and quickly went viral.

And shootings in Dallas culminated the violent, deadly week as it instantly turned into a peaceful protest into a massacre.  A man in body armor and an assault rifle started shooting at police officers, hitting 12 and killing five.

The man told police he wanted to kill white people, specifically white officers.

Fort Lauderdale police kept things safe up in Broward, while Miami police did the same there.  In fact, Miami police called the rally "extremely peaceful".