Nearly a thousand people protested the police shooting death of a 13-year-old Karen boy in upstate New York.

Nyah Mway died last month shortly after Utica police said he ran away from them when they stopped him and another boy for questioning. Authorities say Mway brandished what looked like a gun but turned out to be a replica of a glock17 Gen5 handgun.  The officer tackled Mway to the ground and shot him in the chest.

The Daily Sentinel described the crowd at the protest as diverse.

“We are the generation that grew up with Tamir Rice, Breonna Taylor, George Floyd, and Trayvon Martin,” said Kay Klo of the Midtown Utica Community Center to the Sentinel. “We know what abuse looks like. We know what it means to be targeted and shot by state authorities because of your ethnicity, so don’t gaslight us into thinking that Nyah Mway’s death was justified.”

For some, Mway’s death was a reminder of the brutality they escaped from their home countries.

 “This is the first time we are doing a march for our people. We fled Burma, because we did not have chances to do things like this for anybody, protesting violence and abuse,” said protester Moo Paw to WKTV. “All of my people never had freedom of speech. Never had freedom of religion, or freedom of the Press. This is why we came to America. I know this is going to change my Karen community.”

Hawa Juma is a Kenyan refugee who joined the demonstration. She said her story as an immigrant helped her understand the issues the Mway family is facing.

“We wanted a better future,” she said to the Observer-Dispatch. “Our parents faced trauma [in their home country] and now their kids are going through a similar trauma. And it’s making parents feel like their kids are in danger — from the same thing [they escaped.]”

The protesters are demanding the officers who were suspended after the shooting be fired.

They also want an apology to the family and an admission of wrongdoing.

A GoFundMe campaign has raised $55,000 for the family.

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