(03-25) 20:36 PDT Oakland––
About 60 people marched and rallied in Oakland on Wednesday to condemn
the police and honor Lovelle Mixon, who was killed by Oakland police
after he fatally shot four officers Saturday.
"OPD
you can't hide - we charge you with genocide," chanted the
demonstrators as they marched along MacArthur Boulevard, near the
intersection with 74th Avenue where Mixon, 26, a fugitive parolee,
gunned down two motorcycle officers who had pulled him over in a
traffic stop. He killed two more officers who tried to capture him
where he was hiding in his sister's apartment nearby.
The protest was organized by the Oakland branch of the Uhuru
Movement, whose flyers for the march declared, "Stop Police Terror."
Many marchers wore T-shirts featuring Mixon's photo, including a woman
identified by march organizers as Mixon's mother. The woman declined to
comment and gave her name only as Athena.
Lolo Darnell, one of Mixon's cousins at the demonstration, said, "He
needs sympathy too. If he's a criminal, everybody's a criminal."
Asked about police allegations that Mixon was suspected in several
rapes, including that of a 12-year-old girl, marcher Mandingo Hayes
said, "He wasn't a rapist. I don't believe that."
Bystanders had mixed reactions. Nicole Brown said that she can't
condone murder but that police don't respect residents of the area.
Daria Belt said she had no sympathy for the protesters but sympathized
for Mixon's family.