US: San Diego Marches against Police Killing of Ugandan Refugee
TEHRAN (Tasnim) - For the fifth day in a row, hundreds of people in San Diego city took to the streets through the center of El Cajon, California to protest against the police killing of an unarmed Black man in an encounter captured on video.
The latest march in the San Diego suburb on Saturday came one day after police released two videos of the shooting death of Ugandan-born Alfred Olango, 38, at a strip mall. Activists had called for the release of the footage.
Three marches took place peacefully throughout the day, reported local media, one at 10 a.m., another around 3. p.m., and a third one in the evening, according to TeleSUR news website.
Police on Saturday kept their distance from marchers, who walked down the middle of streets behind a banner that read "#NotOneMore," "White Silence=Violence,” and "Comply or not, we're shot," among others.
"[It's] time for immediate and urgent action," said local Bishop George McKinney, who attended a prayer rally with religious leaders calling for justice.
"Today when we march, we're marching for peace, we're marching for justice. No justice, no peace!" said Rev. Shane Harris, of the San Diego chapter of the National Action Network.
No arrests were reported, unlike previous days when officers used pepper spray to disperse the crowd and arrested two men for unlawful assembly after scuffles broke out.
Alfred Olango was outside of a shopping center in El Cajon, California, on Tuesday when two police officers shot at him claiming that he was "behaving erratically."
Police said they responded to a report of a mentally unstable man walking in traffic. He was shot after police say he pointed an object at them. Olango was unarmed and the object turned out to be nothing more than an electronic cigarette.
Olango left his Uganda more than two decades ago to escape poverty and conflict and had refugee status. His mother, who also lives in the United States, said before he was killed during a mental breakdown and that he needed help.
The use of excessive force by US police departments, primarily against Black people, continues to generate protests, as well as a fierce debate over systemic racism in policing and the criminal justice system.
