Protest Against Officer-Involved Shootings Involving Black Men Held In Downtown LA
LOS ANGELES (CBSLA.com) — About 75 people protested the many officer-involved shootings by law enforcement against black men in Los Angeles and around the nation in downtown Los Angeles.
Members of Stop Mass Incarceration Network and other civil rights advocates gathered about noon at Los Angeles Police Department headquarters and marched to Skid Row, the scene of a fatal OIS involving police and a homeless black man Sunday.
The group, with bicycle mounted LAPD officers keeping a watchful eye, then marched east toward Union Station.
No arrests or trouble was reported, said Officer Norma Eisenman of the LAPD's Media Relations Section.
The demonstration was dubbed "Justice for Africa," in reference to the,nickname of Charly Leundeu Keunang, the 43-year-old Cameroon native killed by police on Skid Row.
Federal authorities described Keunang as a convicted robber who was supposed to be deported, but was released from custody when Cameroon officials failed to cooperate with the deportation effort.
His videotaped killing, captured on a witness' cellphone camera, has prompted outrage from some community groups who have been protesting police shootings both in Los Angeles and across the country.
"People can call it killing," said a protester who calls himself General Jeff, "but we call it murder."
CBS2's Greg Mills asked him about the claim by the LAPD that Keunang reached for an officer's gun.
"Okay, and we also have on that same video there's audio of an officer saying 'Drop the gun.' So if you reach for a gun, you never had the gun," said General Jeff.
"We respect the police," said protester Danny Barnes, "we need the police, but there is some bad policing inside the force, and it's sad."
Mills reported at Union Station the protesters staged a die-in.
LAPD Chief Charlie Beck and Mayor Eric Garcetti have called for calm as various investigations are conducted, including probes by the independent LAPD inspector general and the District Attorney's Office.
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