The four white policemen who fired 41 bullets at the young African immigrant; 19 hit their mark.
Prosecutors brought six alternative charges against each of the cops; none of them stuck- neither counts of murder, nor the two manslaughter; not homicide, not reckless endangerment. All officers were acquitted.

No New York City police officer has ever been convicted of murder for actions in the line of duty. A grand jury charged a New York officer with murder only once before, in 1992, but the charges were reduced and the officer was acquitted.

New demands for social justice, law enforcement reforms and a federal inquiry echoed from pulpits and city streets after the acquittal verdict. About 300 people gathered near the United Nations for a prayer vigil led by the Rev. Al Sharpton seeking to bring the case to the attention of the international community.

Some in the crowd wore signs reading: "Go ahead and shoot. I'm black so it must be justified." Several women, dressed in black, stood silently near a phalanx of police officers.

In what was billed as a day of prayer, political leaders and activists joined Sharpton in criticizing the verdicts as inappropriate for a case in which police fired 41 bullets, only to discover afterward that he was unarmed.

Thousands of protesters descended on Midtown Manhattan, Saturday 26th February, to denounce police brutality.

Organizers of the protest -- dubbed People's Justice 2000 March -- said it was planned from midtown to Bryant Park as a way to show the city racial injustice and prejudice by police will not be tolerated, and to vow justice for Diallo and others killed in confrontations with police.

"We decided to bring our anger and outrage to the center of communications and tourism, and show that these young people who are the targets of police brutality are concerned and disciplined people," said Richie Perez, spokesman for People's Justice, an organization affiliated with the Rev. Al Sharpton's National Action Network.



Women In Mourning And Outrage, New York City. FUP D00-542

They appear at anti-police brutality rallies, drawn together to share their crosses of sorrows, losses and grief in silence, giving witness to pain that is unfathomable and unrelenting…to stand in a circle and on cue raise hands cupping portraits of Amadou Diallo. They somberly intone the counting of the 41 bullets fired at him that have again reignited flames of unquenchable pain on the disbelieving community. Their arms fall, silence reigns, the pain, anguish and outrage emanated with a palpable force of beauty, dignity and power…and unpardonable pain and suffering.