Demonstrations over New York shooting
27 November 2006 22:17
New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg has met community leaders in a bid to defuse mounting anger over the shooting dead of an unarmed black man by police officers.
Mr Bloomberg condemned the shooting but said he will support the city's police commissioner.
Sean Bell was shot dead outside a strip club in the borough of Queens on Saturday morning following his stag night.Mr Bell, 23, was due to marry the mother of his two children on Saturday evening. The incident happened as Mr Bell and his friends were leaving the club, which was under police surveillance.
It is understood that over 50 shots were fired by five undercover police officers at the group. Mr Bell was killed and two of his friends were wounded, one of them critically.
The incident has sparked demonstrations in New York amid echoes of the shooting of African immigrant Amadou Diallo in 1999, shot 41 times by police officers who thought he was reaching for a gun and not his wallet.
The killing has been condemned by civil rights activist Al Sharpton, who addressed a rally in Queens and demanded an official investigation.
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