Los Angeles Indymedia : Activist News

April 7, 2015: Marchers carried 617 life-sized cardboard coffins, one for each of the 617 confirmed people killed by Los Angeles County law enforcement since the year 2000.

Four Winds of victims' families and supporters--north, south, east, and west--met at separate locations and demonstrated at various places before converging at the LA County Board of Supervisors. The West Wind met at MacArthur Park and, in its travels, visited 6th and Union (site of the police killing of Manuel Jamines); the Rampart police station; and the LA Unified School District Headquarters building; before their ultimate destination, the LA County Board of Supervisors.

The East Wind gathered outside the East LA Sheriff Department before rallying at Mariachi Plaza, LAPD headquarters at 1st and Main St., and finally the LA County Board of Supervisors.

The North Wind began at the Men's Central Jail at Bauchet and Vignes and marched past Union Station, through Skid Row, past the memorial site for slain Brother Africa, before joining the other Four Winds at the Board of Supervisors.

The South Wind traveled to the LAPD Newton Division Station, and the Hill Street Court en route to County Board of Supervisors.

Occupy Los Angeles OWS reports, "As the crowd first took the streets for a die-in adjacent to the array of hundreds of coffins, songs played over the portable address system included 'Every Breath You Take / I'll Be Missing You,' and 'What's Going On.' Danza Azteca led the hundreds assembled in a musical dance ceremony honoring Mother Earth."

"Even those who prepared the hand-painted coffins in the weeks leading up to the march expressed a somber, awestruck silence upon seeing hundreds of paper memorials occupying the entire roadway outside the Kenneth Hahn Hall of Administration," Occupy Los Angeles OWS continues.

Full story and photos: United Families For Justice Carry 617 Coffins to Downtown L.A. #DeathByCop Rally by Occupy Los Angeles OWS