Samuel L Jackson has called on fellow high-profile names to protest against perceived racial police violence.

His rallying comes in the wake of widespread protesting over the grand jury decision in the Eric Garner case.

The 43-year-old died shortly after being restrained in an apparent “chokehold” by a white police officer in July. The officer in question was not indicted over his death.

A video of the incident in New York showed Mr Garner shouting “I can’t breathe” repeatedly as he was held to the ground.

The officer was the second in nine days to escape indictment by a grand jury, after white officer Darren Wilson was not indicted for the fatal shooting of Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri.

Now Jackson has joined the rallying with a film shared on his Facebook page, in which he challenges those who participated in the Ice Bucket Challenge to follow his example and sing “We Ain’t Gonna Stop Till People Are Free Song”.

“All you celebrities out there who threw ice water all over your head, here’s your chance to do something else,” he said. “I challenge all of you the We Ain’t Gonna Stop Till People Are Free Song.”

Lyrics include:

“I can hear my neighbour crying, 'I can't breathe.'/
Now I'm in the struggle and I can't leave/
Calling out the violence of the racist police/
We ain't gonna stop until people are free/
We ain't gonna stop until people are free.”

On Saturday, an estimated 25,000 people protested in New York calling for police officers who kill black civilians without proper cause to be held accountable. Marches also took place in San Francisco and Washington DC.