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| Al Sharpton |
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Al Sharpton fired up a group of protesters in Harlem Saturday with promises to "close this city down" following the acquittals of three police detectives who shot and killed an unarmed groom on his wedding day.
"We strategically know how to stop the city so people stand still and realize that you do not have the right to shoot down unarmed, innocent civilians," Sharpton told an overflow crowd of several hundred people at his National Action Network office. "This city is going to deal with the blood of Sean Bell."
According to the AP, Sharpton's rally at his office was followed by a 20-block march down Malcolm X Boulevard and then across 125th Street, where some bystanders yelled out "Kill the police!" Fifty of the marchers carried white placards bearing big black numbers for each of the 50 bullets police fired at Bell and his friends.
Also taking part in the rally was a friend of Bell who was wounded in the 2006 shooting outside a Queens strip club.
"They never accused Sean Bell of doing anything. Then why is he dead?" Sharpton asked, his voice roaring with anger. Authorities "have shown now that they will not hold police accountable. Well, guess what? If you won't, we will!"
"Shut it down! Shut it down!" the crowd chanted, standing up and applauding wildly.
Sitting behind Sharpton as he spoke were Bell's parents, his sister and Nicole Paultre Bell, who took her fiancée’s name after his death.
"The justice system let me down," Paultre Bell told the crowd in a soft voice. "April 25, 2008: They killed Sean all over again. That's what it felt like to us."
On November 2006, Sean Bell and his two friends left Bell’s bachelor party when officers shot 50 rounds at the three men. Bell’s two friends, Joseph Guzman and Trent Benefield were seriously injured while Bell was shot to death. The officers were reportedly involved in an undercover investigation at the nightclub when they overheard a conversation that led them to believe that Bell and his friends were going to the car to get a gun. According to reports, Bell’s car allegedly hit an unmarked police vehicle and officers believed that someone in Bell’s car was reaching for a gun. Still, today a gun was not found.
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