100 Set Out for San Quentin to Protest the Death Penalty

Carrying water bottles, placards and backpacks, 100 protesters set out from the state Capitol on Friday for a 120-mile trek to San Quentin Prison to demonstrate their opposition to the death penalty.

The “March Against State Killing” began in a pep-rally atmosphere on the west steps of the Capitol as protesters were told that their efforts would indicate to the world that not all Americans favor executions.

“The rest of the world is looking at what America does,” said Magdaleno Rose-Avila, national director of Amnesty International’s anti-death penalty campaign. “They imitate us. They imitate our rock ‘n’ roll. They imitate our dress and they’ll imitate our killing. We’ve got to send them a message of abolition.”

As plainclothes police officers watched from a short distance away, other speakers gave practical advice, urging the marchers to drink plenty of water and keep to the shoulders of the highways.

On the first day, the marchers planned to cover 15 miles--the distance from Sacramento to nearby Davis. With nighttime stopovers, they expect to pass through Dixon, Vacaville, Fairfield, Vallejo, Richmond and San Francisco before reaching the main gate of San Quentin on Oct. 22.

The 10-day walk was organized by a coalition of religious and activist groups who worry that California may resume executions as early as next spring. Prosecutors say Robert Alton Harris, convicted of murdering two San Diego teen-agers in 1978, could be the first to die in California’s gas chamber in 22 years.