Update | More protests in New York after officer cleared of Eric Garner’s death

Mostly peaceful protests flared for a second night over a New York grand jury’s decision declining to bring criminal charges against a white police officer in the choking death of an unarmed black man.

Protests erupted across New York and in cities from Georgia to California after a white police officer was cleared in the chokehold death of an unarmed black man - a case that drew comparisons to the deadly police shooting in Ferguson, Missouri.

New York City police said early yesterday that more than 60 people were arrested, most for disorderly conduct.

The decision on Wednesday by the Staten Island grand jury not to indict officer Daniel Pantaleo heightened tensions that have simmered in the city since the July 17 death of Eric Garner.

In the neighbourhood where Garner died, people reacted with angry disbelief and chanted, "I can't breathe!" and "Hands up - don't choke!" In Manhattan, demonstrators laid down in Grand Central Terminal, walked through traffic on the West Side Highway and blocked the Brooklyn Bridge.

Thousands of marchers snaked through the streets of Manhattan for a second night on Thursday, beginning at the evening rush hour and picking up recruits along the way, often weaving between cars and trucks and bringing traffic to a near standstill.

Tensions rose as a crowd of at least 3,000 congregated in Times Square about an hour before midnight, shouting at police, "Who do you protect?" as hundreds more officers moved in steadily to force protesters back onto sidewalks. There were a number of arrests, but no overt outbursts of violence.