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Sean Bell protests set for weekend

NEWSDAY STAFF WRITER

7:32 PM EDT, May 2, 2008

A series of demonstrations and acts of civil disobedience to protest the Sean Bell verdict will begin this weekend, according to event organizers.

New York State Senator Rev. Ruben Diaz and his son, State Assemblyman Ruben Diaz Jr., will gather at noon Saturday at 1157 Wheeler Ave. in the Bronx, the former home of Amadou Diallo. They will then march to the New York Police Department's 43rd Precinct on Fteley Ave.

A representative of Rev. Al Sharpton's National Action Network said yesterday that they would begin protests on Wednesday afternoon that will take place in five places in the city.

Sharpton, accompanied by Sean Bell's parents and fiance, held on Tuesday a meeting with church and civic leaders at the headquarters of hospital workers union Local 1199 to plan the events.

Afterwards, Sharpton said the protests would be aimed at "a change of laws on a more permanent basis." Sharpton will announce the times and locations of the events at his Harlem headquarters on Saturday morning.

On April 25, the trial of three New York police officers charged with fatally shooting Bell near a Queens nightclub and wounding two others ended with not guilty verdicts for all the defendants. The Justice Department said afterwards that it would review the shooting for possible federal civil rights violations.