6,000 Jam N.Y. Rally Backing Abu-Jamal
Six thousand people crammed a theater to show support for condemned murderer and radio journalist Mumia Abu-Jamal Sunday afternoon while off-duty police officers held a counter rally for the Philadelphia officer Abu-Jamal was convicted of killing.
“Mumia is all of us. Mumia is the defining figure in the racist criminal justice system,” said rally organizer Monica Moorehead before supporters in the cool of the Theater at the Garden.
Tickets at $15 each sold out three days before the rally, Moorehead said.
Meanwhile, outside Madison Square Garden, 150 off-duty New York City police officers rallied for Officer Danny Faulkner, who was killed 19 years ago.
Dozens wore blue-and-white T-shirts reading, “Officer Danny Faulkner was murdered by Mumia Abu-Jamal.”
“We’re just trying to counter the anti-police sentiment, not just in New York City but throughout the country,” said Officer Joseph A. Alejandro, treasurer of the New York City Patrolmen’s Benevolent Assn.
Abu-Jamal, a former Black Panther leader, was convicted of Faulkner’s slaying in 1981. The officer was shot after stopping Abu-Jamal’s brother for driving the wrong way down a Philadelphia street. Abu-Jamal was arrested at the scene.
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