Holding signs and chanting, more than 150 students and community member gathered at the John Harvard statue yesterday to protest last Friday's verdict in New York's Amadou Diallo case.

Students from the College and graduate schools, as well as Fletcher University Professor Cornel R. West '74, described their reactions to the verdict and spoke about racism in law enforcement and the U.S. legal system.

Last Friday, four New York City police officers were acquitted of second-degree murder charges in the shooting of Diallo, a West African immigrant. Diallo was struck by 19 bullets while standing in the vestibule of his Bronx apartment. Officers mistook a wallet that Diallo had held up in the air for a gun.

"If there's no accountability, there's no justice," said Peter-Charles N. Bright '01, the vice president of the Black Men's Forum (BMF). "If the people who protect us attack us, there is no justice."

Bright led the demonstrators in chants of "Police tactics 101/It's a wallet, not a gun." They later counted in unison from one to 41--the number of shots that the four officers fired at Diallo.

The rally began at the Kennedy School of Government (KSG), where participants gathered at 11:30 a.m. to make signs with slogans like "Protect and Serve?" and "No justice, no peace." Demonstrators marched to the Yard, where they stayed for over an hour before proceeding to Harvard Law School.

West, who joined the rally in the Yard, praised the demonstrators for bringing the issue to the attention of Harvard and said that better training was needed for police officers to prevent another shooting.

"A dialogue like this forces public awareness and policy change," he said. "These kind of rallies, colloquiums should continue at [the College and graduate schools], even at the School of Public Health, because this is a health issue."

"Just breathing while you're black can be a health risk," he added.

Several speakers also encouraged Harvard students to become more aware of national issues like racism and crime and said that classes at the College and the Law School do not adequately address racial issues.

"We take for granted the privileges we have here, but our silence is a sign of complacency," said Adam R. Taylor, a KSG student and president of the Harvard chapter of the NAACP.

As he looked around at the buildings in the Yard, he smiled and added, "We may be disrupting some classes that are going on here, where students are talking about their 'ideal society.'"

While speakers repeatedly said that even Harvard's minority students were not immune from the prejudices that they claim caused the four police officers to think Diallo was carrying a gun, they emphasized that the discussion should be multiracial.

"This is not just about communities of color; we have to ask our white classmates to enter into this dialogue," said Marisa Castuera, a KSG student who helped organize the demonstration. "This is not just about the Diallo verdict--it's about the anger in our community."

Speakers also mentioned the more recent shooting of Sgt. Cornel Young Jr. by two fellow police officers. Young, a Providence, R.I. patrol officer, was in plainclothes and had drawn his weapon to assist the officers outside an all-night restaurant. He was shot and killed

"A year later we could be reacting to another verdict in Providence," said Alicia E. Johnson '01, president of the Black Students Association (BSA). "We're too late for Amadou Diallo, but we sure can change the Providence [verdict]."

The BSA and BMF will table outside the Science Center this afternoon and tomorrow to raise awareness about the Diallo case and to gather signatures for a petition that they will send to New York Mayor Rudolph W. Giuliani and New York congressional representatives.

Demonstrators were particularly critical of Giuliani, accusing him of insensitivity to racial issues in his efforts to reduce crime in New York.

"Giuliani has been flagrant in his refusal to sympathize with the victims of police brutality," West said after his speech.

According to Johnson, the petition will express their disapproval of the Diallo verdict and encourage a federal investigation of the case.