By Hamil R. Harris
Washington Post Staff Writer
Tuesday, February 16, 1999; Page B03

Hundreds of people marched and rallied
outside the White House, the Capitol and the
Justice Department yesterday to protest the
Feb. 4 shooting of Amadou Diallo, a West
African immigrant shot to death by New
York City police outside his Bronx
apartment.

Diallo, 22, a native of Guinea, who died in a
storm of 41 bullets, was unarmed. An
attorney for the four police officers involved
has said the officers thought Diallo had a gun.
However, investigators found nothing but a
beeper and a wallet in Diallo's pockets. He
had no criminal record. None of the officers
have been charged.

Civil rights activists, ministers and natives of
Guinea living in the Washington area took
part in yesterday's march and rally, one of
many that have taken place across the
country and in Guinea.

"We wanted to avenge the modern-day
lynching of Amadou Diallo," said Mark
Thompson, of the D.C. chapter of the
NAACP. "Police violence is a national issue.
There is not much difference between the
police in New York and those in the District."

Thompson referred to a Washington Post
series that revealed D.C. police had killed
more people per resident in the 1990s than
any other large city police department in the
country.

WOL radio host Joe Madison attended the
rally and announced the start of a hunger
strike in an effort to get the Prince George's
County state's attorney to reopen the case of
Archie Elliott III, who was shot by Prince
George's police in June 1993 while in
custody.

"These are all young black men and women
who have needlessly died," Madison said.