Hundreds March to S.F. City Hall in Support of Police Violence Hunger Strike

This week, KQED News is taking a closer look at last year's fatal police shooting of Amilcar Perez Lopez in San Francisco’s Mission District.

The San Francisco district attorney has yet to decide whether to file criminal charges against the police officers who shot Perez Lopez six times from behind. The case is one of several fatal police shootings that have made people mad enough to march.

As was evident Tuesday.

Hundreds of people walked down the middle of Mission Street, heading to City Hall from the Mission District police station. That's where a group of hunger strikers have been holding a vigil for the past two weeks. They want Mayor Ed Lee to fire Police Chief Greg Suhr, something the mayor has said he will not consider.

"Police violence is a symptom of a larger problem of income inequality. And the Police Department isn’t here to protect and serve everyone," marcher Elizabeth Travelslight said.

The march was led by the five Mission Station hunger strikers, who are now being called the "Frisco Five." They say they are on their`13th day without food.

"This mayor is a complete disgrace, and if anybody doesn’t see that then they don’t see what’s going on," said Sellassie Blackwell, one of the hunger strikers.

Once at City Hall, the crowd interrupted a Board of Supervisors meeting, but did not meet with Lee.