Print
Dec 16, 2006 12:25 am US/Eastern
'Shopping For Justice' March Planned For 5th Ave.
Protest Planned For Shooting Death Of Sean Bell
by Pablo Guzmán
NEW YORK (CBS) ―
-
-
Sean Bell was killed by a hail of police gunfire in the early morning hours of Nov. 25 outside a Jamaica nightclub.
CBS
There will be a sea of protesters down Fifth Avenue on Saturday.
At City Hall Friday, plans were announced for the so-called "Shopping for Justice" march down Fifth. The march is in protest of last month's "50 shot" police shooting of Sean Bell in Queens.
The march is intended to add political pressure to indict the officers involved in the shooting. With information available now, it seems that officers will not face any criminal liability.
The idea for the march, which could draw as many as 10,000 people, in a way, was planted at City Hall, when black leaders realized after their meeting with Mayor Bloomberg that there would be no assurances that the officers would be indicted.
Further, they realized that what they are characterizing as an escalating police campaign of allegedly intimidating witnesses, who had already gone to the D.A., was not going to be stopped by the mayor or the police commissioner.
"This is the season when many will be out shopping for trinkets. We will be shopping for justice. We appeal for people to come out," the Rev. Al Sharpton said on Friday.
Friday's march announcement follows Thursday's release of video, which dramatically shows how far some of those police bullets went.
As Scott Weinberger first showed viewers Thursday on CBS 2 News at 5 o'clock, surveillance video from the AirTrain platform illustrates just how wild the firing was that night. The station is more than a block and a half away from where cops were shooting at Sean bell and about two stories up.
The video clearly shows how the blast through a window terrifies a passenger; and you can see the amazing reaction of two Port Authority Police officers who thought they were being fired upon.
This video will only add to the chorus of "we told you so" that will be heard at Saturday's march.
March organizers and police will work together to ensure a peaceful rally. Police said that most of the extra officers on duty will be there to re-direct traffic.
(© MMVI, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)
