Holding signs and chanting, more than 150 students and community member gathered at the John Harvard statue yesterday to protest last Friday's verdict in New York's Amadou Diallo case.

Students from the College and graduate schools, as well as Fletcher University Professor Cornel R. West '74, described their reactions to the verdict and spoke about racism in law enforcement and the U.S. legal system.

Last Friday, four New York City police officers were acquitted of second-degree murder charges in the shooting of Diallo, a West African immigrant. Diallo was struck by 19 bullets while standing in the vestibule of his Bronx apartment. Officers mistook a wallet that Diallo had held up in the air for a gun.

"If there's no accountability, there's no justice," said Peter-Charles N. Bright '01, the vice president of the Black Men's Forum (BMF). "If the people who protect us attack us, there is no justice."

Bright led the demonstrators in chants of "Police tactics 101/It's a wallet, not a gun." They later counted in unison from one to 41--the number of shots that the four officers fired at Diallo.

The rally began at the Kennedy School of Government (KSG), where participants gathered at 11:30 a.m. to make signs with slogans like "Protect and Serve?" and "No justice, no peace." Demonstrators marched to the Yard, where they stayed for over an hour before proceeding to Harvard Law School.

West, who joined the rally in the Yard, praised the demonstrators for bringing the issue to the attention of Harvard and said that better training was needed for police officers to prevent another shooting.

"A dialogue like this forces public awareness and policy change," he said. "These kind of rallies, colloquiums should continue at [the College and graduate schools], even at the School of Public Health, because this is a health issue."