SAN DIEGO — A crowd of thousands gathered Saturday to protest the police brutality against people in a San Diego neighborhood who were pepper-sprayed by the police.

More than 1,500 people were arrested, the San Diego Police Department said in a statement.

They were protesting the death of Jamar Clark, a 32-year-old African American man who was killed by a police officer during a scuffle at a park in August.

Police said they found a gun in the park where Clark was attacked, but officers said it was not a gun.

“This is a day for people to express their outrage,” San Diego Mayor Kevin Faulconer said at a press conference Saturday.

“People are expressing their anger by taking to the streets.”

About 2,000 people gathered Saturday morning at the Mission Viejo Mission, a public park that overlooks the bay and a large park in San Francisco.

The protesters also marched through downtown San Diego and to the United Nations in Mission Valley, near the Mission.

The demonstrators marched through the city, carrying signs that read, “Tear Gas, Not Black Lives Matter,” and “Police Are Not Our Allies.”

“Tear gases are a weapon of terror,” read one banner that read.

Hundreds of protesters marched toward the U.S. Capitol.

A handful of people gathered outside the Capitol building, where they waved signs that said, “No more police brutality.”

Some people dressed in black took to the sidewalks to chant, “Stop the police, stop the racist police.”

The protest was sparked by the death, which occurred during a protest in the Mission Valley neighborhood.

Police say they were called to a disturbance at a nearby park and responded by shooting a pepper spray into the air.

Police have said that Clark was unarmed and had his hands up when he was shot.

There was no word Saturday on the conditions of Clark’s body.

On Friday, a grand jury decided not to indict a San Francisco police officer in the death.

After the shooting, San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom called for “peaceful demonstrations” and said there would be no arrests in the protests.

More: The protesters chanted, “Police are not our allies,” and later marched through San Francisco and onto Interstate 5.

In a statement Saturday, the protesters said they were protesting against the death because of the fatal shooting of Jamen Clark.

They also said that while they were not affiliated with the group calling for Clark’s death, they were calling for the firing of the officer involved.