Rallies set for convicted Chinese NYC officer Peter Liang
Date
2/17/2016 2:33:11 AM
(MENAFN- Asia Times) Chinese-American officer Peter Liang was convicted of manslaughter for the fatal shooting of an unarmed black man in a darkened public housing stairwell.
Sentencing has been scheduled for April 14. The manslaughter charge carries up to 15 years in prison.
Since the trial began a “guideline of helping Officer Liang” has been circulating via WeChat a popular social networking app among Chinese. The guideline posted on helpliang.com calls on the Chinese community to donate funds participate in rallies and write to the judge before the sentencing.
“Rally in street for 10 minutes is better than being angry in a room for 10 days” said the post which also lists the locations of the proposed rallies as well as contact information of organizers in some 20 cities including Houston Los Angeles Boston Orlando Florida and Raleigh North Carolina.
“I expect as many as 30000 people would be involved nationwide” Tian Wang the Los Angeles rally organizer told China Daily. “We have received responses from 35 cities so far since we sent out the rally proposal on WeChat on Friday.”
Wang said he was the initiator and coordinator of the nationwide rallies. According to him more than 3000 people are expected to rally at Los Angeles City Hall on Feb 20. “Around 200 kids will come along with their parents” he said.
In San Francisco more than 1500 people have signed up for the rally on Feb 20 but the location has yet to be determined.
“We want to stage the rally at the place where we can achieve the best effect of publicity among people of non-Chinese background” said Andy Wang an organizer of the San Francisco rally.
“It’s unfair to scapegoat Liang for past injustices” he said referring to police incidents in 2014 in which Eric Garner a Staten Island man died after police placed him in a chokehold and Michael Brown a teenager in Ferguson Missouri was shot and killed by a policeman. Both of the victims were unarmed black men and both police officers accused of killing them were not indicted.
“We Chinese need to make our voice heard and the aim of the rally is a way to strive for our rights through peaceful and lawful ways” he said. Read more
Related story: Peter Liang is unlucky to be an Asian New York cop
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