Dozens Stage Square Protest Against Police Violence

Waving signs and chanting slogans, a crowd of 40 protestors gathered in the Pit yesterday afternoon to rally against excessive force by the police.

Wearing all black, the demonstrators distributed flyers to passersby decrying what one pamphlet said was "an epidemic of police brutality that continues to intensify" across the country.

They also chanted in unison.

"Whoop whoop/ That's the sound of the police/ Whoop shoop/ That's the sound of the beast," one slogan went.

Protesters cited racial profiling, inhuman punishment against people in police custody, discrimination against urban youths and the death row case of Mumia Abu-Jamal as their reasons for rallying.

"We're doing this for the ghetto youths, " said George, a demonstrator who would only give his first name.

The event was organized by the Coalition to Stop Police Brutality, as a part of National Day of Protest to Stop Police Brutality, Repression and the Criminalization of a Generation.

There were no police in plain view, and there were no disruptions.

Most passersby did not stop to watch, but many accepted the white pieces of paper with statistics and bullet points about crime and brutality.

Many of the protesters carried posters with pictures of people allegedly killed by law enforcement agents.

The Coalition sponsored similar rallies yesterday in 55 cities nationwide.

While most were rallies and candle light vigils, Albany, N.Y. featured a bike ride with stops at alleged sites of police brutality.

The Coalition is most well known for its book, Stolen Lives: Killed by Law Enforcement, which purports to document over 2,000 cases of people allegedly killed while in law enforcement custody. The book was sold at yesterday's rallies, along with shirts, pins and other Coalition paraphernalia.

The sober protests did not drown out another political group in the Square. Just off to the side, six Ralph Nader supporters clad in green handed out bumper stickers and pins in support of their candidate.