Over a hundred people marched the streets of Downtown Los Angeles Saturday for the 16th National Day of Protest to Stop Police Brutality, Repression, and the Criminalization of a Generation, demonstrating their anger and grief with the violence they feel police continue to perform unjustly towards minorities across the country.
Protesters of varying ages and part of different organizations gathered at Pershing Square to show their support to people who lost relatives due to police violence.
Bryan Avila, a 17-year-old Eagle Rock high school student, stood in the front lines with other high school students hoping to make a difference.
“I’m here because I really dislike what the police do,” Avila said. “They claim to protect and serve us but they’re not protecting my black and brown brothers and sisters, this needs to change.”
It seemed to be a challenge for some family members and friends of victims to be present and share their stories of loss and grief as a result of police brutality.
Cheena Chou, a UCLA graduate, lost her friend, Michael Cho, also a UCLA student, on Dec. 31, 2007 after he was shot 11 times by the police in broad day light.
Chou said she wants people and the community to know that unjust acts are not only being done towards black and brown people,
“it’s happening to everyone” and no one should be silenced by the police because of fear.
“We used to be a country where women couldn’t vote and blacks were slaves,” said Chou. “It took the 99 percent to come together to change that and we fought believing and knowing that this is not OK.”
As people stood outside the police department, they yelled, “Hey cops what do you say, how many kids have you killed today?” and “We’re fired it up, can’t take it no more, police brutality has got to go.”
Longtime activist, Magally Miranda, who joined the protest as part of the Occupy LA movement, said her main concern is the need for justice to be served.
“A badge is not an excuse for any cop to kill without being questioned,” said Miranda.
Other demonstrators laid on the ground imitating dead bodies shot by police while others outlined their bodies with chalk demonstrating a crime scene.
A former prisoner who wanted to be identified as Sticks said he was placed in jail for 45 days and felt like a “raging animal inside a cage” because he was mistreated by the police. “I guess I’m fortunate to not have been shot like the rest of my brothers who went ahead of me.”
The demonstrations final meeting point was at MacArthur Park, where protesters came together as a community to share their support for everyone who had to live through a loss caused by the police.
Maricial Gurra, an organizer for Answer LA Organization, who brings awareness of police violence to the public, said the government should acknowledge the continued increase of deaths resulted by the brutality of the police.
“Our government talks about respecting human rights in places like Syria and other countries,” said Gurra, “our human rights are also getting violated and they (the police) need to be held accountable for their actions and to be executed to the fullest extent.”
