For the second time in less than two weeks, protesters will gather at Lincoln Park and march to the Long Beach Police department headquarters.
The families and friends of Hector Morejon, 19, and Feras Morad, 20, both fatally shot in separate incidents by LBPD officers earlier this year, will be leading the march through downtown Long Beach.
“[The families] are both chief organizers of this [rally],” said Michael Brown, the co-founder of Long Beach’s Black Lives Matter chapter. “We’re supporting them with logistics and some of the smaller organizing details, but both of those families are pretty much leading the event.”
Last week’s rally was attended by about 100 people. Brown said that his organization hoped to bring as many as 600 to Saturday’s rally.
Morad was shot and killed by police officers responding to a 911 call on May 27. The rally will also honor Morejon, who was similarly killed by police earlier this year. Both cases are currently under investigation, according to the LBPD.
“Both families don’t want Long Beach PD to investigate themselves,” Brown said. “They’d like some federal investigation… to get involved.”
The families of Tyler Woods and Donte Jordan, both shot and killed in separate incidents in 2013 by LBPD officers, will also attend Saturday’s rally. Officers in both cases were cleared of charges, Brown said.
The attendees at a similar rally last Thursday for Morad demanded that the LBPD release the name of the officer, as well as issue a criminal indictment against the officer and public recognition of the shooting.
Protesters shout and hold up signs at Long Beach police officers on the corner of Broadway and Pine Avenue.
“We want the process started to indict,” Menard said.
On Monday, the LBPD named Mathew Hernandez as the officer involved in Morad’s shooting.
Hernandez shot and killed Morad on May 27 on East 15th Street after he allegedly got into a confrontation with the officer while under the influence of drugs, according to a press release by the LBPD.
Another LBPD officer shot and killed Morejon in April. Both shootings are currently under investigation by the LBPD and the Los Angeles County Coroner’s Office, who are still conducting autopsies.
The previous rally also saw family members of Morad and Morejon united in a march from Lincoln Park to the steps outside the LBPD Headquarters.
“Feras was like a brother,” Alejandro Rivera said at last week’s rally. Rivera competed in debates with Morad. “I knew him well, he defeated me every single debate round I faced him this year.”
Protesters at last Thursday’s rally also got into a confrontation with officers after they began to block traffic along a busy stretch of Pine Avenue.
Police lined up with their patrol bikes and blared their sirens in front of a picket line where Morad’s friends and family members shouted accusations at the officers through a megaphone. Both sides eventually backed away from each other.
Brown said that he expects Saturday’s rally to remain peaceful. The demonstration will begin at 11:30 a.m. at Lincoln Park on Broadway and 3rd Street.