News / Human Rights

Hundreds march in San Francisco over death of black man

Sunday, 31 January 2016 8:56 AM [ Last Update: Sunday, 31 January 2016 11:07 AM ]

Protesters demanding justice for Mario Woods, the Bayview man shot and killed by police nearly two months ago, march down Market Street to the site of Super Bowl City in San Francisco, Calif. on Saturday, Jan. 30, 2016.

Hundreds of Americans have held demonstrations in San Francisco, California to protest police fatal shooting of African American Mario Woods last month.

They started their protests at Union Square at 11 am on Saturday and marched to Super Bowl City along the Embarcadero.

They were calling for San Francisco's Police Chief, Greg Suhr, to be fired, chanting, "For justice, Mario Woods" and "Fire Chief Suhr."

Woods was shot at least 15 times by a group of police officers on December 2, after ignoring their commands to drop his knife.

Following the shooting, Suhr argued that the killing was justified, because Woods was a threat to officers. He even called for equipping officers with stun guns to prevent similar killings.

Police officers escort demonstrators with the Justice for Mario Woods Coalition on a march past the site of Super Bowl City in San Francisco, Calif. on Saturday, Jan. 30, 2016.

On Saturday, protesters were followed by officers, who were wearing gas masks and holding batons. They lined the streets blocking demonstrators from getting to Super Bowl City.

The officers then moved down a few blocks, blocking people again and finally escorted some of them down to Super Bowl City where they dispersed.

"We are here to bring this news to people. We are not here to tear stuff up. We're not here to confront the Super Bowl or people here. But we're here to say that these people have to stop this," a protester said.

Another protester said that "they don't deserve Super Bowl if they can't recognize all our lives matter."

Woods’ killing came amid heightened tensions over several high-profile killings of unarmed African Americans by white police officers in the last two years, which have triggered large-scale protests across the country.

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