COLUMBIA, S.C. — Several hundred protesters took to the streets on Friday afternoon, this the seventh day of protest at the South Carolina State House.
The group 'I Can't Breathe South Carolina' organized a march from the governor's mansion to the State House steps.
They are demanding change within police stations around the state.
"If you look out here today, you have all faces out here fighting for the oppressed, and we didn't even have to do anything but say this is where we're going to be," says Demetris Hill. "This is the crowd that came out for options, this is the crowd that came out for justice and peace"
Hill and other organizers made it a point to make sure that protesters were positive and peaceful.
"A lot of people got discouraged last week, just because of the violence, but today we made a statement," says Rye Martinez. "We made the statement peacefully and we made the statement clearly. Our voices will be heard."
The organizers vocalized their list of demands, which included better training for officers.
"We want relation-based policing, community interaction, crisis intervention, mediation, conflict resolution and rumor control," announced Danielle Ford, a protester who has been vocal for several days at the state house.
Richland County Representative Todd Rutherford accepted the demands and plans to bring the them up when lawmakers return on June 24th to discuss CARES Act funding.
"I believe, and that was my demand to this crowd, that they not stop, that they not give up," says Rep. Rutherford, D-Richland. "We've seen enough, we've heard enough. The number of people that I've represented that have been shot by the police, that have been killed by the police, that have been maimed by the police, that have had their rights taken from them time and time again. I'm amazed to this day the number of people that are watching TV and see the crowd control that's being used in other places and are going oh, there's another bad apple. The system is broken and we have got to fix it."
Organizers also demanded that police departments pay out restitution for lawsuits out of their department's funds, not the general funds of the municipalities.
Hundreds of protesters filled the state house lawn, trying to get the message across that they will not tolerate police brutality and an unjust system.
They're hopeful that their voices are heard.
"We hope that other states will look at us as an example to carry on and carry out our goals and that is to bring positive changes to our communities, to our homes," says Lawrence Nathaniel of I Can't Breathe SC.